Reaper's Summit
by Dashrainbow257
Summary: what do you do when someone you know has been killed by another player. hire the executioners guild of course. a guild who's sole purpose is to hunt down and kill PK'ers.
1. The Beginning of our new lives

**A/N So I was going back and had finally finished editing some of the stuff in the earlier. I go to post the new chapters and did something incredibly stupid. instead of hitting the replace/update chapter button I pressed the delete chapter button. so I had to go and delete every chapter and then re-upload them to get them all in the right order. and now i'm really fucking pissed at myself. but at least the edited chapters have been uploaded and everything is back in order. I'm sorry chapter 8 is taking so long my life hasn't been going great lately, my girlfriend broke up with my two weeks ago out of the blue, and it hit me hard, anyways i'm working on the next chapter and should be finished soon. if your looking for something to read right now though and your willing to read something i'm writing that's original go over wattpad and search my account name, it should come up with a story called Game on (Terrible name I know, i'm working on it). also I will be starting a RWBY fic eventually so stay tuned for news and shit about that. btw if this is your first time reading something by me, there are no author notes on the rest of the chapters because again i deleted them and i didn't feel like going through and rewriting one for each one, but your not missing much it was mostly me bitching and ranting like this. Finally please enjoy.**

Chapter 1: A new Beginning

Ten minutes, it's all that stood between me and my return to the most anticipated game of the year. Sword art online, the first VRMMO ever created and something thousands of people have been anticipating for over a year now. And in ten minutes all the waiting will have paid off because the game will finally go online. As a beta tester I knew where to go as soon as I logged in and met my friends. Seven minutes now, god damn it why does time move so slowly when you're waiting for something. As I paced back and forth I glanced at my mirror and saw my dark brown hair was down to the base of my head. It surrounded my face people have always described as chiseled. I looked back at my clock, five minutes left. I finally decided to just lay down put the nerve gear on and just wait. Five minutes passed slowly each second one closer to the game. Finally five minutes later it was time.

"LINK START." And with those words a flash of colors appeared and disappeared, after the standard calibration I could finally log on. I signed in and was teleported to the Town of Beginnings. As the glow faded I looked around me at the familiar town, I walked over to the fountain at the center of plaza and waited since my friends and I decided to make this our meeting place for when we first logged on.

"Jason?" I turned to see a young female player looking around.

"Right here. Although in here it's actually Atticus. And you know you're not supposed to use your real name as your in game name Charlie." Looking at my girlfriend I noticed she made her avatar look the same as her real body. From her long red hair to her emerald green eyes, the only difference I could see was the sword strapped to her back.

"Hey this is the first game I've ever played so cut me some slack." I shrugged and she grabbed my hand as she sat down and leaned on me.

"I still can't believe that this is all just a game. I mean everything just looks so real and your hand is just as warm as I remember it."

"Yeah even though I beta tested the game I still can really believe that this is all just in a computer." With that I leaned in planted a small kiss on her lips.

"Yeah they definitely have temperature settings down." I said while Charlie started to blush and hit my arm yelling at me while I was laughing.

"Hey am I interrupting something?" we stopped and looked over to see a teenage looking player with black hair and dark skin looking at us.

"Not at all John, but that's not your in game name so what is?" I asked my longtime friend as he approached

"I'm going by Ryuk in this one. But how'd you know it was me" he asked slightly disappointed I could tell who he was so easy.

"Easy, Charlie's sitting next to me and Sam doesn't answer like that. Speaking of her have you seen her yet?"

"Yeah she said she'll be here in a minute her sister decided to join us today."

"Well this should be fun we'll finally get to meet her sister." No sooner had I said this then two female players walked up to us.

"About time I was seriously thinking about logging off going to your house and forcing you to log in." Ryuk joked as Sam and her sister walked over to us.

"Sorry first time Jill's used a Nervegear. Oh and my in game name is Kallen, Jill's is Nyssa." Sam said as Jill looked around with a look of awe on her face. While Nyssa was busy staring at everything I sent out friend requests to everyone. When Charlie got hers she nearly fell over in surprise.

"What the hell is this box in front of me?"

"It's a friend request. It allows us to know when and where each other is while we're online, just press the yes button." I explained to her. She still looked a little uncertain but pressed yes anyway and jumped again as the box disappeared.

"Noob." Ryuk said as we all tried not to laugh from Charlie's reaction to the friend request, but Ryuk's comment got us instead and even Charlie joined in after a few seconds. After we all stopped laughing and got on each other's friend list we headed out to the vendors.

"Most of the stuff here is garbage but if you're not really a sword person then you might want to buy something else now." I explained for everyone. After that I headed towards an NPC and bought a two-handed axe with the 500 starting col.

"Didn't you just say most of the stuff here is garbage though?" Nyssa asked a confused look on her face.

"I did but I'm not really a sword guy and I'm working towards another skill."

"What skill?"

"You'll see." I said grinning. In the end Ryuk was the only one who didn't buy anything. Charlie bought a scimitar, and both Kallen and Nyssa got rapiers. After buying what we wanted we headed towards the fields of the first floor to get some practice in. after thoroughly explaining how to use sword skills everyone but Charlie had them down.

"You're not waiting long enough." I tried explaining

"It's the stupid games fault not mine."

"Here, let me help." I grabbed her hand and positioned it in the right place and kept it there until her scimitar lit up. I let go and her hand whipped down cutting the air in front of her. She smiled trying again this time succeeding on her own. After a couple of hours everyone understood how to use skills perfectly.

" Shit, sorry I've got to go. It's my turn to make dinner tonight." Charlie said tired from an hour of hunting boars.

"So how do I leave?"

"Just open the menu, it's the bottom button." I explained

"Alright thanks Jason… um Jason it's not there."

"Sure it's not, sometimes I can't stand noobs." Ryuk complained, which received a punch in the shoulder from both Nyssa and Kallen. Opening my menu I saw she was right. Before getting a chance to wander what the hell was going on a bell rung and Charlie screamed while being surrounded by a bright blue light, next were Nyssa and Kallen then Ryuk. Finally it was my turn. After the light faded I found myself in the town square we all met at in the beginning. Looking around I saw what looked like everyone in the game here.

"What the fucks going o-." Ryuk was stopped when he noticed a single red hexagon in the sky. As we looked more began appearing until the whole sky was red. After a few seconds what looked like blood started falling through the lines separating the hexagons. The blood starting changing shape until finally a giant humanoid in a red cloak was left.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online. My name is Akihiko Kayaba" The figure began.

"And as of this moment I am in control of this world. I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your menu, the logout button. Let me assure you this is not a defect, this is how Sword Art Online was meant to be played."

"What the hell does he mean Jason?" Charlie said with a look of confusion and terror on her face.

"And no one on the outside will be able to remove or shutdown the Nervegear helmet from your head, if someone does try the Nervegear will send out a microwave signal into your skull. This will result in your immediate death." The figure calling itself Kayaba continued.

"This can't be happening." Charlie kept repeating terrified, until I came and took her into my arms. She jumped then saw it was me and turned to hug me. I could feel her shaking in my arms.

"What if someone tries anyways?" Another player yelled at Kayaba.

"Authorities have already been made aware of what's happening. Even still some families have tried removing the Nervegear, resulting in Aincrad having 213 less players."

"What the fuck." Kallen said looking absolutely terrified.

"Even now major news companies around the world have around the clock coverage of everything happening. Needless to say the chance of a Nervegear being removed now is minimal. Also it is important to remember the following." The square grew silent as Kayaba continued.

"There is no longer anyway to revive a player in the game. If your health bar reaches zero your avatar will shatter and the Nervegear will simultaneously destroy your brain, ending your life. There is only one way to escape this game. You must clear the game. Currently you are on floor one if you can clear the dungeon and beat the boss you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor 100 and you clear the game" with that said shock hit me, not even the beta testers got close, hell we didn't even make it past floor 10.

"So much for a speed run." Ryuk said trying to mask his terror with a bad joke.

"He can't be serious."

"Why would he do this?" was heard all around from players.

"Now, I bet your wondering, why Akihiko Kayaba creator of the Nervegear and Sword Art Online would do this. The answer is this exact situation. And now good luck and a gift." And with that he disappeared. The gift he mentioned was a small mirror. As I looked at it I and everyone else was surrounded by that same blue light. After it faded I couldn't tell what had happened until looking around for Kallen's avatar and instead finding a tall girl with short black hair.

"Kallen?"

"Yeah"

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Me what about you?" looking back in the mirror I saw I changed to look like I did in real life. Looking around I saw everyone except Charlie had changed.

"Let's go" I grabbed everyone's hands and we ran.


	2. The Briefing

Chapter 2: The Briefing

-November 6th, 6:00 pm-

"Why the hell are we running?" Charlie yelled as we ran out of town.

"In an MMO there are limited resources. Once everyone realizes that the area around the Town of Beginnings will be farmed dry, were heading to the next town now to get ahead of everyone else." Ryuk explained as I focused on leading us away from the town center. Soon enough we were outside the town and slowed down to focus on any mobs we would encounter. After two hours and 10 fights we finally made it to Harunka village. Extremely tired and worn out we decided to find an inn and get some shut eye. Looking at the map of the area I led everyone to a small inn called the Holly inn. As we walked in we noticed we weren't the only one's here. He had short black hair and a one handed sword strapped to his back.

"How the hell did someone beat us here?" Nyssa said confused. He glanced at us and walked up the stairs away from us. Walking up to the innkeeper I noticed one other name in the inn's register "Kirito" the name seemed familiar so I filed it away for later. Having only enough col for 3 rooms we decided Charlie and I would share, Nyssa and Kallen would share which left Ryuk by himself.

"Why am I always the one who winds up alone?" he asked.

"Because you're a dick." Kallen said matter of factly. With that we headed upstairs and went into our separate rooms. I tried sleeping for a few hours but couldn't fall asleep. I got up to go walking around town. I made it to the door of the inn before someone grabbed my hand; I spun around surprised to see Charlie looking worried.

"Can't sleep either." She nodded and we walked out into the night. We walked for an hour before we found a bench underneath a giant oak tree in the middle of a plaza. We just sat there for a while looking up at the starry sky painted ceiling of the first floor.

"I don't want to die here. It's just some dumb game." Charlie said barely louder than a whisper. I pulled her closer to me.

"You won't, I promise. I will do everything and anything I can to make sure you survive this. Just please listen and do as I tell you, and I promise you will make out of here alive."

"Now I know I won't die. In all the time we've been together you've never once broken your promise." she smiled and said sleepily. At this point she was lying down using my leg as a pillow. After a few minutes I noticed she had fallen asleep. Unwilling to wake her and being extremely tired myself I decided to leave her be, ten minutes later I was asleep as well. I woke up the next morning confused about where I was, and then I remembered yesterday. I woke Charlie from her sleep and we headed back to the inn. After gathering everyone we decided to head out and farm mobs for levels and col. After about ten hours of killing boars we decided to call it a day and head back. I looked at the HUD to see what level everyone was. Atticus-8, Charlie-3, Kallen-4, Nyssa-3, and Ryuk-5. In ten hours we had all leveled pretty well, plus we got some decent drops. I had gotten a pair of black combat boots which gave +2 Speed. Charlie had gotten a black battle skirt with red trim which gave +3 agility. Kallen and Ryuk both got new swords. And Nyssa unfortunately did not get anything worth mentioning. Arriving back in Harunka we noticed more players had shown up.

"Well looks like we're not alone anymore." Nyssa said as we went back to the inn. We rented 3 rooms again before the inn became full and then headed out to get dinner. We found a nice café on the other side of town and sat down to eat.

"So what now?" Kallen asked looking at me along with everyone else.

"We continue to level until the boss is discovered, which shouldn't take long. Then depending on everyone's level we decide whether or not to participate." I explained and went on to explain the basic rules of how to survive to everyone. After dinner we decided to split up and do whatever we felt like. Ryuk went back to the inn for the night, Kallen and Nyssa decided to wander around and look at the various shops, which left me and Charlie to walk around alone again.

"About last night, thanks again for reassuring Me." Charlie started as we walked.

"No problem it's what I'm here for."

"But why did you make it sound as if you didn't plan on making out of here alive yourself."

"Because when I said I'd do anything to keep you safe I meant it. Whether it is killing someone else or even sacrificing mys-." Before I could finish I was viciously slapped across the face.

"DON'T EVER THINK OF KILLING YOURSELF." She screamed at me while hugging me tightly.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." She said this time barely louder than a whisper. I pulled her closer, kissed her forehead.

"Alright I promise, never again. I don't know what I'd do without you either."

"You always know what to say to cheer me up."

"That's why I'm the best boyfriend ever." I smiled looking down into her eyes.

"Yes you are." She smiled and leaned in for a kiss; I obliged and kissed her back.

-December 3rd, 5:20 pm-

It's been a month since the death game began, and we are still stuck on the first floor. But that should change soon; the boss room had finally been found. In ten minutes a strategy meeting would be held to decide on how to deal with the boss.

"I still don't understand why we have to go. I mean Atticus is a beta tester he knows how to deal with it." Ryuk was complaining.

"Just because I was a tester doesn't mean I have all the answers for this game."

"True but you of all people should remember something as important as the first boss of the game." Kallen countered.

"Okay you caught me, I know about the boss. But that was beta which means they've changed things the boss might be different. So we should go find out what we can and plan accordingly." With that we entered the meeting area and sat down. After a few minutes a guy with long blue hair, a sword and a shield walked onto the stage.

"Welcome and thank you for coming to this meeting. My name is Diavel and the job I rolled is knight." He started.

"Yeah and I'm the fucking tooth fairy." Ryuk mumbled which landed him a punch on the shoulder from both Kallen and Nyssa.

"Alright now for the real matter at hand. My party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." Everyone immediately went silent at the news.

"We need to beat the boss and clear the floor to show everyone that this game can be beat. Now everyone group together into groups of 6. A normal party doesn't stand a chance against the boss. We have to form a raid party consisting of multiple smaller parties." He said then gave us time to form our parties.

"Well we only need 2 others and were good." Charlie said happily.

"3 more you're not coming Charlie." I stated.

"What the hell do you mean I'm not coming?"

"You're under leveled and I'm not willing to risk your life."

"What about Ryuk he's only three levels ahead of me and he's going?"

"In an MMO three levels makes a huge difference also he grew up playing games like this."

"That's so unfair what if you died in that fight wha-."

"YOU ARE GOING TO STAY AT THE INN AND WAIT THAT IS FINAL." I almost screamed at her.

"I'm not going to die. During the beta I was one of the top three players, I didn't die in the first floor fight. Also I'm level 13, Nyssa is 11, Kallen is 12 and Ryuk is 10. Everyone but you is level 10 or above. And what if you died you think I'd be any better off then you if I died." I said much calmer then my previous outburst.

"Fine I'll stay here but promise me you won't die out there or I swear to god I will never forgive you." She almost crying by the end.

"Don't worry about Atticus I'll be there watching his back." Ryuk said as he put me in a headlock.

"I think that's what she's worried about." Kallen said smiling next to me.

"Damn Kallen that's cold. You know I'd never hurt Atticus, Charlie would kill me if I even thought about punching him." Ryuk responded to which everyone started laughing.

"All right now that that's settled back to the meeting." Diavel started again.

"th-."

"Wait just one second." Diavel started and was interrupted by a short kid with short orange spiky hair. He jumped down from the top of the steps and landed on the stage next to Diavel.

"My name's Kibaou got it." The spiky hair kid started.

"Before we take on the boss theirs something I wanna say. You've all heard about the two thousand players who died already. Well some of you have to apologize for them." I paled slightly realizing he was probably talking about the beta testers.

"Kibaou you're talking about the beta testers correct?" Diavel asked.

"Of course I do. The day this game started the beta testers up and vanished leaving us to fend for ourselves while they took all the good hunting spots and all the easy quests. This whole time they were the only ones getting any stronger. They've just ignored us this whole time. Hell there's probably some of them here. Get out here beta testers. We should make them apologize for what they've done, not only that but we should make them give up all their items and the money they've gathered. They can't expect the party to trust them if they don't trust us. Why should we?" He finished, crossing his arms with a look of disdain on his face. Everything was silent for a few minutes. I noticed two or three other players shifting nervously. Kirito the player we saw at the inn the first night was one of them. I was about ready to get up, walk up to Kibaou and knock some sense into him, when finally someone spoke up.

"Can I say something?" and with that a giant black bald man with a two-handed axe walked on stage and up to Kibaou. Kibaou noticed his sized and visibly tensed up.

"The name's Agil. I just wanna make sure I'm on the same page as you. You say the beta testers are responsible for the two thousand players who died, and they should apologize and give up their winnings, I'm I right?"

"Yeah." Kibaou said nervously.

"The item store hands these out for free." Agil said while lifting a book and turning to the crowd.

"It's a guidebook you got one right?"

"Yeah so?"

"You know who was handing them out? It was the ex-beta testers." And with that everyone leaned forward to better hear what was being said. Agil paused and waited for the information to sink in.

"Everyone had equal access to the boss but even still lots of players died. Now I didn't come here to point fingers, I came here to learn from their deaths and to find out how to beat the boss." With that Agil looked to Kibaou who just grunted and went to sit down. Agil followed him and sat down as well.

"Alright now back to the meeting." Diavel said turning to the crowd.

"For info on the boss it's all in here the latest issue of the guidebook. According to the book the bosses name is Illfang the Kobold Lord. He will be surrounded by his minions the ruin kobold sentinels. He carries a one-handed axe and a buckler. He has four health bars and when the last bar turns red he switches to a curved sword type called a Talwar, his attack pattern will also change."

"That's seems kinda unfair." Charlie said looking at me slightly worried.

"Don't worry he did the same thing in the beta." I responded, but even I was worried. I mean why would Kayaba leave everything the same as in the beta, it just didn't feel right.

"All right that's it for the briefing. Now for loot distribution, all money will be shared equally among participants, the party who defeats the boss gets the EXP and whoever gets an item keeps it. Any objections?" silence followed his question.

"Good. We leave at ten AM tomorrow so get some rest. Meeting over." With that we all got up and left.

"Hey you guys have room for 2 more?" A voice said from behind us. Turning around we saw a short player with short blond hair and a pair of glasses. He had a double sided sword on his back. Next to him was a taller player with medium length brown hair and freckles around his face. He had a one-handed axe on his belt and a shield on his back.

"Sure. But are you sure you guys wanna participate you might die." Nyssa said.

"Yes were sure. Anything to help get us out of the game faster." The brown haired player asked. I shrugged and sent off two party invites. They clicked yes and two new health bars popped up under the other 5. Seamuz and Ace were the names of our two new companions.

"So who's Seamuz and who's Ace?" Kallen asked.

"I'm Seamuz." The brown haired player said.

"Which makes you our Ace up the sleeve?" Ryuk said

"That was easily the worst joke you've ever said. I'm Kallen by the way, this dumbass is Ryuk." Kallen said.

"I'm Nyssa, nice to meet you." Nyssa said before Ryuk could say anything. She then shook both Seamuz and Ace's hands.

"I'm Charlie. If I come off as nervous or defensive it's not you I'm just not good at meeting new people in video games" Charlie said looking very nervous.

"Atticus." I said walking up behind Charlie and putting my arm around her trying to calm her, it worked, after a few seconds she wasn't as tense and started leaning on me.

"Nice to meet you all." Ace said shaking everyone's hand.

"Same." Seamuz said, also shaking everyone's hand. And with that we headed out to get some rest.


	3. Beater

Chapter 3: Beater

-December 3rd ,10:00 pm-

"Alright that's the plan for tomorrow everyone got it?" It's been three and a half hours since the boss meeting had ended. As soon as the meeting had finished Charlie had gone off by herself looking slightly upset and very pissed. She even blocked me so couldn't see where she was on the map.

"So basically were the meat shields while everyone else gets all the glory." Ryuk said sarcastically.

"I like to think that were not there to just take the damage but to supply help and defense for the attacker." Ace said surprising us with the amount of sincerity he put behind those words.

"Right… so Seamuz how come you're teaming up with Mr. nice guy?" Ryuk asked. Even as he asked Ace was going over to some random player looking upset.

"Someone has to be my meat shield, and he's so nice he doesn't care. Plus he's actually pretty good at the game." Seamuz said while Ace walked back over to us.

"What was wrong with him?" Seamuz said sounding like this was a normal thing for Ace.

"His sword broke while he was out farming mobs. So I gave him three of mine." That nearly made me trip over my own feet.

"What did you say?" I asked a look of confusion on my face.

"I gave him three of my swords. Why do you look so confused?"

"He's the kind of guy who only helps people who ask and even then only does the bare minimum." Kallen responded for me.

"Oh. Okay, me I'm just a really nice guy. If I see someone who looks down I'll do whatever it takes to help them." Ace said an enormous grin plastered onto his face.

"Wow. So all I have to do is ask and I get free stuff." Before Ryuk even finished a trade window popped up.

"If you seriously ask for something I will kill you." Kallen said beginning to draw her Rapier.

"I didn't plan on really going through with it." Ryuk said a look of concern on his face.

"Anyway I think it's time we hit the hay, big day tomorrow and you're gonna want to get as much sleep as possible tonight." I said tired of the arguing.

"What about Charlie?" Nyssa said worried.

"I've learned that when she storms off it's best to just leave her be." With that we went our separate ways for the night.

-December 4th , 9:50 am-

Ten minutes left until we left for the boss room. To say I was nervous was an understatement, not only would this be the toughest battle we will have fought, but I still hadn't seen or heard from Charlie since yesterday after the briefing.

"Hey anyone heard from Charlie?" I asked a look of worry covering my face.

"No and she's blocked everyone from seeing where she is. Plus she left the party as well." Nyssa said looking only slightly concerned. I shrugged. Finally ten minutes later I got a message from Charlie saying she was fine and apologizing for making us worry. A sigh of relief passed through me after reading the message.

"Alright everyone it's time to head out." Diavel said standing on the stage. And with that everyone left for the boss. It was a long hike through a hot forest. Halfway through I got a party request from Charlie. I pressed accept and her name showed up next to everyone else's. As we marched on I looked and saw she had unblocked me. She was now back in town at the inn. An hour later we arrived at the door to the boss's room. Diavel stood in the center and thrust his sword in to the ground to get everyone's attention.

"Listen up everyone; I've only got one thing to say. Let's win." And with that he pushed open the door and everyone rushed in. the room was designed to look like a throne room, and at the end the boss sitting in his throne. As soon as everyone was in the doors shut and the boss stood up. He leapt at us shield in one hand axe in the other. As the defenders my group was in the front already ready to do our job. The boss immediately agro'd on to us. He used a sword skill so I ran up and countered with one of my own. As soon as the axe was deflected three people from the attack group ran up and hit him a few times before running back for us to deflect the next attack. The plan seemed to be working, but then someone from the rear defense team got hit, Ace immediately left to help him taking Seamuz with him.

"Where the fuck is he going?" Ryuk said taking Ace's spot.

"To help someone." I yelled blocking another attack from the axe. We were able to keep up the defense for a few minutes but then it was time for Seamuz to rotate in and we didn't have him back. As a result an attack went through and sent a player flying. He exploded into thousands of blue hexagons midair. The boss just kept going one after another sending three more players to their death before we were able to get in front of him. We tried to block the next attack but it went through and sent Nyssa to the ground.

"NYSSA!" Kallen yelled going after her a potion in hand. She made it in time but now it was only me and Ryuk in front of the boss. We tried but the two of us just couldn't block the next attack. Ryuk went flying and I was thrown back ten feet as well. The boss rushed me charging up a sword skill as he came. As he came I realized I wouldn't be able to keep my promise to Charlie. Finally he as on top of me getting ready to swing. I closed my eyes and thought of how sorry I was to Charlie. I waited but the final blow never came. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Charlie blocking the axe by herself. No time to worry that she was here, I got up and hit the boss with my strongest attack sending him back. As we headed to group back up with Ryuk the boss charged us again, ignoring players in front of him to target us. Charlie went down her health in red now. The boss targeted her and went after her while two minions got in my way. I cut them down in one swing and an announcement box popped.

-You have unlocked the Scythe wielding skill and Scythe skill: reapers dash-

I smiled realizing I just got the exact skill I needed. I quickly equipped a scythe I had gotten a few weeks back from a quest. I activated the scythe skill Reaper's Dash and dashed forward with double the speed of the boss reaching Charlie and blocking the incoming axe skill from the boss. I was able to keep it up until I had an opening. I grabbed Charlie and activated Reapers Dash again putting 30 feet between us and the boss. After that we were able to regroup with Nyssa, Kallen, Ryuk, Ace and Seamuz. We resumed our earlier plan and kept going until the bosses HP dropped into the red.

"Everyone fall back I've got this." Diavel shouted while charging toward the boss. As he stood there charging up a sword skill. That's when things got worse. The boss pulled out his new sword only it wasn't a Talwar, I wasn't the only to notice.

"STOP GET BACK!" I looked over and saw Kirito as the one who was yelling. That's why I recognized him he was another Beta tester. But his warning was in vain even as he was yelling the boss began jumping around the various pillars in the room, until finally he slammed down on Diavel sending him flying. Kirito went after him. Everyone was stunned at Diavel's being sent flying. The boss continued his assault on players sending another two to their deaths. We finally snapped out of our shock and got back to defending the others. It wasn't long until Kirito and his partner charged the boss. Kirito parried while his partner would attack this went on until the boss knocked his partner into him sending them both to the ground. The boss charged them getting ready to end them both, when someone dashed pass using an axe skill to parry the boss's attack.

"We can hold him off until you guys are good." It was Agil who had saved them. With that our group along with about five other players ran passed getting into position to block the boss. The boss performed a ground pound move knocking everyone into the air. He then jumped up and started another sword skill. Kirito charged using one of his own to knock the boss out of the air and cancelling his attack. Kirito charged again with his partner knocking the boss's sword away for his partner to attack. Kirito then attacked cutting his chest then dragged his sword through the boss cutting him in half. A big Congratulation popped up indicating we had finally won. Everyone was hopping up and down with joy looking at their new items and Col. Agil was over by Kirito commending him for his good swordsmanship.

"Stop laughing." Everyone stopped and looked to see Kibaou sitting on the floor crying.

"Why'd you do it? Why'd you let Diavel die? Admit it you knew the technique the boss was gonna use didn't you? If you had told us earlier he wouldn't have had to die like that." Everyone was stunned by what Kibaou said. Then some people decided he was right.

"I know why he knew I bet he was an ex-beta tester! Think about it he knew the boss's attack pattern. And I bet he's not the only one here. Come on out show yourselves!" someone yelled. Soon everyone was yelling not only at Kirito but at each other as well. Kirito started laughing; everyone went silent after a few seconds. Shit if this got any worse I'd have to do something about it. All of a sudden Kirito stood up and started laughing.

"So you guys think I used to be a beta tester. It's not fair to put me in the same group as those noobs." Kirito started walking towards Kibaou.

"What did you say?" Kibaou said angrily.

"You heard me. Most of the 1000 players who scored a slot in the beta were total beginners. They were so green they didn't even know how to level. Hell even you guys are better than they were. Me I'm not like those guys. During the beta I made it to higher floors then any of the other testers. I knew about the boss because I've fought tons more monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors. I know a ton of other things too. Way more than any info broker." Kirito said with a smile on his face.

"wha- What the hell. If that's true you're worse than a beta tester. You're a goddamn cheater!" Kibaou said balling his fists up and still crying. Everyone started calling him cheater but Kirito's smile only grew.

"He's a beta tester and a cheater. He's a Beater!" someone cried out.

"A Beater yeah that's good. I like it." Kirito said opening his menu. Everyone looked shocked by the fact that he had embraced the name so quickly and willingly.

"Okay you can call me a Beater. Just don't confuse me with those other guys." And with that he equipped a black cloak. He glanced back at Kibaou one last time and started walking towards the exit.

"Wait." I said and walked towards him.

"I just wanted to remind you that not all of those guys were green. Perhaps you remember the name Lifehunter." I said with the creepiest smile I could make and grabbing his shoulder.

"Yeah I do, and don't worry I wasn't talking about you or The Angel." He said continuing towards the stairs. I walked back to my group. We started walking towards the stairs ourselves and away from the shocked players. We made it to the next town called Kaneki, found the first inn and bought three rooms. We separated and went to our rooms for the night.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"


	4. The Ring Was Not Worth It

Chapter 4: The Ring was not worth it

-December 4th ,6:00 PM-

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" I screamed happy that the game made it impossible for people outside the room to hear us talk. Charlie spun around a look of shock and fear on her face. In all the time we had been dating I had never yelled at her for anything. I immediately closed the distance between us hugged her close and gave her a kiss.

"And thank you. If you hadn't shown up when you did I wouldn't be here now. Hell we would've lost a lot more players to, so on behalf of all the survivors' thank you. Also sorry for the outburst just had to say that before you felt like you had gotten away with that" I kissed her again.

"I'm sorry, I know I should have listened but I had to prove I'm not useless." She said a tear in her eye.

"Charlie you are nowhere near useless. You have the biggest responsibility in the group." I said wiping the tear away with my thumb.

"And that is?"

"And that is keeping me alive."

"How can I do that if you won't even let me fight." She said pushing me away a look of anger on her face.

"Because if you're safe then I can keep a level head in battle."

"That didn't go so well today did it?"

"Today doesn't count."

"And why is that?" she asked more angry than anything else.

"I didn't have my weapon until half way through the fight."

"That is not a suitable excuse for me. What if you hadn't gotten that skill when you did what would've happened then."

"You would have died. And then I would've killed myself" She went quiet with a look of fear on her face.

"Jason…" she started crying.

"I'm sorry but it's the truth and you need to realize that you are the only thing in this world keeping me going."

"You know the same goes for you. If you had died… I would've…. Killed… myself as well." She said in between sobs

"I know but I grew up playing games like this and I was a beta tester, I have much more experience then you."

"True but if you're fighting then I will be there at your side protecting you from anything that's too strong for just you to handle alone." She said her tears slowing.

"Fine fine I give up. Next time you can come as long as your high enough level for It." as soon as I said it she beamed at me and her tears ending the only trace being her bloodshot eyes. She walked over to me kissed my cheek and got into bed as if the whole argument hadn't happened. Sometimes I hate how good she is at playing me. I sighed and got in bed next to her.

-December 10th ,12:00 AM-

"Why are we out here again?" Ryuk asked for the thousandth time.

"Rumor has it that the first event of the game is gonna be held in this dungeon." I said while I was trying to think of what the event could possibly be, this dungeon isn't exactly a challenge in fact I'd say at this point it was downright easy.

"I know that. What I mean is why are we here now, the event hasn't even been announced yet. Also why are only the guys here?" Ryuk said this time looking at Seamuz and Ace. After the boss battle they decided to stick with us.

"You do remember what tomorrow is to me and Charlie right?" with that Ryuk sat up realizing exactly what tomorrow was. Say what you will about him being a dick but he's still my best friend for a reason, he will always help when I need it.

"OH shit that's right tomorrow's the eleventh. Sweet that means no seeing you tomorrow. Well I'm gonna hit the town and try to find myself a girlfriend" He said cheering up.

"Ha-ha very funny but yes you won't be seeing me tomorrow." I said rolling my eyes and smiling at the thought of him going around hitting on girls.

"And Kallen and Nyssa are distracting Charlie for me." I said answering his other question

"I know I said I would help and all but do you mind if I ask what tomorrow is? I know Ace is curious as well he's just too damn nice to ask." Seamuz asked leaning against the wall going through his menu.

"Yeah I am a little curious?" Ace asked

"Well the rumor for the event says that one of the rewards given Is a ring with a stat boost. I was gonna give to Charl-." Before I could finish I got a message from the server. I opened it.

-EVENT ALERT-

"The Bloodletting cultists are trying to summon a demon we need them stopped"

Location: Cave of The Cultist

Time Limit: 12:10-3:00

Party limit: 10

Possible rewards: Varies depending on how you finish mission. Ring Guaranteed either way

Objective: Stop the cultists or kill the demon

Bonus: Rewarded for killing the demon

"Alright now that the event is live lets go." With that we drew our weapons and headed in. for ten minutes we wondered around killing cultists before Ryuk said what we were all thinking

"This is too fucking easy to be an event, and nothing's changed it's all the same if anything it feels like there are less enemies than normal." Ryuk said a look of disappointment on his face.

"Yeah there are definitely less enemies this time." I said removing the end of my scythe from the body of a cultist as it burst into thousands of pixels, a worried look on my face.

"Why are you guys worried so much, just because there are less enemies doesn't mean it's going to be any easier." Ace said trying figure out why we were so worried.

"That's not why I'm worried. During events enemies don't just disappear their either moved or replaced. What worries is that their supposed to be summoning a demon right? Well from what I remember from other games is that the more people participating in the summoning the stronger the demon. And this place is missing like 30 mobs." Ryuk explained. As he finished you could see the flip switching on in Ace's head. He immediately looked panicked.

"Oh." Was all he could say. We kept hunting mobs for about another hour before we heard something.

"Shit." Ryuk said as we stopped to listen.

"What is it?" Seamuz asked seeming to not care.

"That's chanting."

"And why is that bad?"

"Because were still a half mile away from the end chamber."

"Oh that would be bad." Ace said his voice shaky.

"Don't worry as long as we can interrupt them long enough the summoning will fail." I said putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him. It didn't work. We continued the half mile without interruption. We arrived at the final doors as the chanting stopped. Then one started yelling out.

"ALL THAT IS LEFT IS FOR THE BLOOD OF PURE ONE! AND DESTINY HAS SEEN FIT TO BRING US SEVERAL VOLUNTEERS." And with that the doors opened up. The medium sized cavern the dungeon normally had was replace by a fifty foot black marble hallway complete with stone pillars. We walked in slowly assessing the forty or more cultists standing in a circle around a giant fire. We waited for a few seconds before I realized the NPC was waiting for us to respond.

"And what if we don't want to die today?" I asked acting as if the odds didn't scare the shit out of me.

"Oh we don't need your death just a droplet of blood will do just fine." The cultist said a wicked smile on his face. As he said this I reached for my crystal pouch and pulled out a teleportation crystal, just in case things got too dicey. I just hoped the other saw me and did the same.

"And what if we don't feel like bleeding?" Ryuk said in a mocking tone.

"Then we'll make you bleed!" the cultist yelled and charged us. One by one the others followed suit.

"ATTACK PLAN REAPER! And Ryuk whatever you do don't charge in." I yelled as the cultists closed in. I hoped Ryuk had heard me. We all went back to back so we were looking out at four directions, Ace at my back with Seamuz on my left and Ryuk on my right. Attack plan reaper was that we all group up and switch around to wherever we might be needed so for me it was wherever there was a longer ranged opponent. As the cultists arrived we started cutting them down one by one.

"ATTICUS!" Ace yelled out ducking an axe swing and turning towards me. I placed a hand on his shoulder and vaulted over him bringing my scythe around and cleaving the axe wielding cultist in half. The next ten minutes went on like this hacking, slashing and moving around to cut down more and more enemies. Eventually I heard Ryuk yell and out of the corner of my eye I saw him charge out. The cultists agro'd onto him and less and less stopped coming at us.

"Fuck." I said watching him run at the remaining three cultists.

"What's the problem?" Ace asked confused.

"He's a tank he's not gonna try to dodge them he probably thinks even if he gets hit he just has to kill the guy with his blood before he can make it back to the fire."

"Well that's true isn't it? The killing the guy part that is." Seamuz asked trying to figure out why I was worried.

"Yes that part is true but Ryuk isn't fast enough he's wearing full night armor while the cultists are wearing cloth instead."

"Oh… shit they're gonna summon the demon." Seamuz said looking on. Ace was the only one to go help. I personally wasn't gonna help because I wanted to see what the bonus was. Eventually what was bound to happen happened, a cultist cut Ryuk and made it back to the fire. Immediately the fire shot ten feet into the air as it died out a single man walked out. As he walked Seamuz and I regrouped with Ryuk and Ace. As the man got closer I got a better look at him. He looked to be in his mid-twenties with long flowing white hair. He had no shirt but black steel gauntlet with sharpened fingers on both arms. For leg armor he had silver greaves and a black and bronze kilt. He looked more like an Abercrombie model with armor on then a demon. The only thing that proved he wasn't human was the two black feather wings poking out of his back.

"Demon as the one who summoned you I am your master and as your master I order you to kill these heroes." The cultist by the fire yelled. The demon turned and looked him. The cultist clutched his chest, when he moved his hands there was a sword sticking out.

"I am slave to no man." The demon said turning back to us as the cultist burst into pixels the sword disappearing with him. The other cultists realizing how fucked they were no matter what started to run for the exit. They never stood a chance; they were less than halfway when swords appeared in their backs as well.

"Now that those fools are out of the way I can take my time with you four. But where are my manners, first introductions. My name is Azazel the Forger of hell." Seeing as how a health bar hadn't shown up yet I decided to go with it.

"I am Atticus the life hunter." I said offering my hand for him to shake.

"Oh such an imposing tittle. Tell me how you acquired it?" the demon asked a smirk on his face as he raised his hand to shake.

"By killing every murderer I've met in this world." I said nonchalantly trying not to let my voice give away how scared I was.

"Oh, let's see if you live up to that name shall we." He said smiling as a seven foot white long sword with a skull for a hilt appeared in his left hand. As the sword appeared so did his two health bars.

"Well shit look what you've done now." Ryuk said sarcastically. Before I could respond Azazel leapt back ten feet and hovered in the air.

"He can fly too? That's so fucking unfair." Ryuk said pissed at the demon. Azazel raised his hands and a hundred swords appeared around him in the air. With a flick of his hand he sent them flying at us, lucky for us the pillars were close and we raced for them. We barely managed to make it before the swords landed where we were ten seconds ago. Azazel repositioned himself to try again. We moved again running to the next pillar as he launched more swords at us. if this kept up he would win before we could even hit him.

"FLYING AND SHOOTING SWORDS NOT COOL BRO NOT COOL!" Ryuk yelled as we hid again. In response Azazel just laughed and summoned more swords. Shit we needed a plan and fast. We ran behind another pillar we were exhausted. That's when ace spoke up.

"I've got an idea!" ace said excited.

"Were all ears kiddo!" Ryuk yelled as we ran again.

"Stop running and fight!" Azazel yelled sounding irritated.

"Alright seeing as none of us can reach him now." Ace started

"No shit Sherlock!" Ryuk screamed at Ace.

"We split up next time Ryuk with Atticus and Seamuz with me. We'll agro him and while he's distracted Ryuk throw Atticus, you have the highest strength here."

"Holy shit that might actually work." Ryuk said surprised that Ace could come up with something like that. The next time Azazel launched a volley we split up. It took a few volleys for Ace's group to agro him, but eventually they did. Ryuk cupped his hands for me to step into.

"Launch in t-minus right fucking now!" Ryuk yelled as he threw me as hard as he could. Even with his strength as high as it was I still barely made it but I did.

"HEY ASSHOLE!" I yelled as I neared him. He turned and looked astonished to see me coming nearer. Before he could react I did the stereotypical two handed weapon move and spun in circles connecting three times. Not only did I connect and take a chunk of his health but I also knocked him out of the air.

"QUICK BEFORE HE CAN RECOVER!" I yelled as I landed. Unfortunately demons seem to recover quickly. Before the other could get near him he sent out an AOE attack not only stopping the progress of the other but blasting me back and sending my health into yellow. Before I could do anything Azazel was next to me he kicked me hard enough to send me flying into one of the pillars ten feet away. I gasped in immense pain as I hit the floor. I checked to confirm the worst my health had dropped into the low red. Luckily Ryuk was close enough to stop Azazel from attacking again. While he was defending Ace and Seamuz were able to arrive and help getting in attacks where they could. I quickly popped two health potions putting my health into the green and eliminating the pain. I glanced at Azazel's health and I was surprised. For all that strength and speed his defense was not that high, his health was already down to the last half of his second bar. I smiled and joined the fight.

"RYUK DUCK!" I yelled. Ryuk did accordingly and I placed my hand on his shoulder and leapt over him kicking Azazel hard in the chest sending him back a few feet. Azazel paused for a second and smiled.

"This has been a good fight. But for this last part it shall be a one on one." He said looking at me.

"LIKE HELL WE'D JUST LET YOU FIGHT ONE ON ONE." Seamuz yelled at him. With that we charged at him Seamuz and Ace in the front, Ryuk and I in the back. We had a raging bloodlust in our eyes. But Azazel just kept on smiling. With that close to godly speed he had he nearly teleported by Seamuz and Ace and knocked them aside. He then ducked both mine and Ryuk's swings and spin kicked Ryuk to the side. As they got up and charged him they all ran into something rebounded of off it.

"Neat trick I picked up back in the Crusades." He said his hand raised.

"Now where were we? Owe right." He said turning his attention back to me. Seeing as how I was alone this fight I decided to play it safe and waited. We circled each other for a minute before Azazel charged and swung his sword at my leg. I went to block but his move turned into a feint and went for my neck instead. I kicked my scythe sending it full circle and blocking his attack. I use the momentum from the parry to swing my scythe around my back and at his chest. He noticed and dodged back causing me to barely skim his torso. It wasn't enough to kill him but I still connected.

"You are much faster then I originally thought. You are indeed a worthy opponent." He commented. I shrugged and responded.

"Ryuk has his strength and I have my speed."

"HA this shall be much more enjoyable then." He said. He looked like a kid opening up a Nervegear on Christmas. We continued to circle each other. This time it was my turn to charge I closed the distance between us and swung my scythe up from the ground attempting to cleave him in half. He side stepped me and swung at my left arm. He connected and severed it, in return I spun while taking a step back swing my scythe and connected with his right arm cutting off his hand. I took three more steps back and assessed the situation. We both had low enough health that the next hit would decide it. We both had an advantage. I had a longer reach; he had the fact that losing my arm hurt like a bitch and would continue to until I healed it with a crystal. We both charged ten feet away I started to swing while he positioned his sword for a stab. A split second before being impaled I spun around him to the right and using the momentum swung my scythe around into his side. I turned around to look. He turned wide eyes at the fact that he lost. He started laughing. What was going on his health was at zero he should've died by now.

"That was a good fight indeed. Lucky me I have even more health." He said as another health bar appeared. I moved back into a defensive stance.

"But don't worry I concede. I've decided I like you too much to kill you."

"Wait, what?" I asked confused.

"I don't want to kill you anymore in fact I've decided to give you all gifts." He said and with a clap of his hands message's appeared in front of everyone.

-For clearing the event you have been awarded Death's scythe. As well as the Leaf Ring-

I didn't know what everyone else got but I was happy at the high level weapon I received.

"But that's not all. For besting me I give you another gift." He started.

"Sweet, give me all the shit you've got." Ryuk exclaimed holding up a smaller version of Azazel's sword.

"Yes well the "shit" I've got is for our dear life hunter not you." Azazel said. Ryuk didn't look upset though he just shrugged and started swinging his sword.

"Anyways you should probably heal that arm first." Azazel said returning his attention to me. I realized I was still missing my arm, I slung my scythe across my back went through my menu to grab a crystal and healed my arm.

"Good now give me your hand." Still uncertain as to whether or not I trusted him I didn't move. He rolled his eyes and again with his speed grabbed my hand.

"For Lucifer's sake I already told you I don't want to kill you anymore. Although this might hurt…. A lot." No sooner had he said that then the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life exploded in my hand and traveled up my arm. Everywhere the pain was a black line appeared. After what seemed like hours of excruciating pain it was over just as fast as it had begun. One second the pain was there the next it was gone. When I looked at my arm I had what looked like a pentagram tattooed on my arm and on my hand a star with Azazel written in on the center line.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!" I yelled at him drawing the attention of my friends, they immediately moved into an offensive stance ready to fight if Azazel tried anything.

"Hey in my defense demon blood is super powerful stuff but does hurt like a bitch. Anyways that mark binds you to me allowing you to call on my help." He explained.

"So I can summon a demon?" I asked.

"Yes but only three time, and while not helping you and after the third summon I will reside in crow form and come with you while fighting. While you are not fighting or when I feel like it I will return to the demon realm to rest. Also in crow form I can only scout around you and tell you enemy positions. And with that I'm leaving." With that he burst into flames and disappeared.

"Wow I survived a demon and all I got was this lousy sword. You got a fucking demon. Something just doesn't seem fair here." Ryuk complained. I rolled my eyes and with that we headed home.

-December 12th , 10:00 PM-

"It's been a great day so far." Charlie said hugging my arm as we walked through the streets of Kaneki. We continued walking for another twenty minutes before heading back to the inn. We got back to or room and prepared to go to bed.

"One last thing." I said opening my menu pulling out a small box. I handed it to her while kissing her.

"Happy two year anniversary."


	5. End

Chapter 5: End

-December 14th , 1:30 PM-

"Alright let's go over the plan once more." I announced as we trudged through the forest, along with the other forty players heading for the boss room. We had been marching along for half an hour now.

"Again dude, we've gone over the plan twenty fucking times now." Ryuk said, tired and angry.

"I hate to agree with him, but yeah we have gone over this a lot." Kallen said also tired.

"Fine, but what else is there to do?" I said shrugging. I looked at my four friends for suggestions. Seamuz was with Ace who was giving away more of his equipment to people.

"How about explaining some more things I don't understand." Charlie said taking a step closer to me.

"Alright like what?"

"I know I've never played a MMO before but I have watched other play some, and I don't remember people being able to use potions without going through the menu. So why don't we have to?"

"You know how in other MMO's there's a bar that goes across the bottom of the screen?"

"Yeah and?"

"That bar's called the hot bar. What it does is it allows people to use skills and potions placed in it to be used by pressing the number keys on a keyboard."

"Okay but what does that have to do with SAO?"

"Well because the game uses a full dive there is no hot bar, so the belt acts like a hot bar for potions and crystals."

"OH, okay."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah where's Azazel?"

"He said he doesn't do crow form in boss fights, so unless I call on him were by ourselves."

"that suck's also one more thing." And with that she hugged me tightly. I returned the gesture after my initial surprise wore off.

"That's in case I don't get the chance before the fight." She said smiling. I returned the smile with one of my own. She let go of me but then grabbed my arm and hugged tightly not letting go.

"I noticed you didn't add in case we don't make it back."

"That's because I know we'll make it back. You promised me and you've never broken promise before." I smiled knowing that she trusted me so much.

"So what's going on?" Ace said returning from his gifting session.

"Oh not much, so how much you give away today?" Ryuk said looking like he was about to collapse. Ace

opened his menu to look at his items.

"Let's see, Three swords, two shields, three chest pieces and a scythe." Ace said after scrolling through his inventory.

"How the hell do you have the items to give away stuff every fucking day?" Ryuk asked extremely confused at Ace's whole mind set.

"Uh, the mobs always drop items for me. Why is that not normal?" Ace asked seeing Ryuk's look of confusion. At this statement everyone stopped and looked at Ace.

"NO THAT IS NOT NORMAL! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SO DAMN LUCKY!" Ryuk shouted drawing the attention of a few other players. With that Ryuk stormed off pissed.

"Why is he pissed?" Ace asked looking confused.

"There are three kinds of people in an MMO, jealous people, Assholes and those who just don't give a shit. Ryuk is a cross between all three, but mostly of the jealous kind also he's already pissed because he spent yesterday trying to find a girlfriend, needless to say he failed." I answered without looking back.

"Oh. I'm gonna go see I he want any items." Ace said and started to walk after Ryuk, Seamuz close behind him.

"Well I think Nyssa and I are gonna go up ahead and talk to some of the other players." Kallen said looking around for someone to talk to. With that she grabbed Nyssa's arm and they walked away leaving Charlie and I alone. I then noticed Charlie was still hugging my arm.

"So what do we do now that it's just you and me?" I asked a smirk on my face.

"Let's just walk and enjoy the scenery." She responded smiling at me. We walked for a few hours before

reaching the dungeon and we stopped to equip our armor and weapons. I went through my menu and equipped my scythe and my armor which now consisted of some black cargo pants a gray t-shirt and a gray tattered cloak with a hood. Ready for combat I sat back and admired my weapon; my scythe was made out of a curved steel rod with black leather hand grips, at the top an eighteen inch curved blade jutted out a couple inches from the top. Opposite the blade was a three inch spike which made the top look like a cross, at the very bottom of the steel rod another spike. After admiring my weapon I looked around at the rest of my group's weapons and armor. Charlie wore a red long sleeve shirt with a black vest on top; she wore a combat skirt for her leg armor with black stockings underneath, and the ring I gave her yesterday. Her weapon was still a scimitar which was a silver blade with a black leather handle. The blade was slightly curved with dragons etched on both sides. Ryuk was wearing black and blue dread knight armor. His weapon was a two-handed black and white longsword. Nyssa and Kallen both wore a leather chest plate and black jeans under a leather skirt. Both had what looked like standard rapiers as their weapons. Seamuz wore chainmail with a bronze chest plate on top of it, along with brown leather pants and leather bracers on his arms. He had a steel hatchet with a small blade opposite the main blade; the handle was wrapped in leather hand grip. Ace wore white paladin armor with a white cape. His weapon was a giant white twin sword (google the dark soul's dragon twin blade).

"Alright now that everyone's ready for combat well have the dungeon clearers up front to clear mobs until we arrive at the boss room." Someone from the front called.

"Alright that's me." I said giving Charlie one last hug before moving to the front with the rest of the clearers. Counting me there was ten of us. Odds of losing a member were low due to our high level and high level weapons and armor. Half an hour later we arrived at the boss room so we sat down to wait for everyone to rest up and get mentally prepared for the fight. After twenty minutes everyone had regrouped and was ready for the fight.

"Everyone ready." The same person from before asked. In response to the question everyone sent up a cheer. He pushed open the door and everyone charged in. when we entered the boss was kneeling down on one knee a white cape draped around his being. He had a golden chest plate and a leather kilt for protection. On each side of his head were two golden horns. Like most Minotaur mobs he had a large two-handed axe for his weapon. Then three bars of health and his name appeared "Baran the General Taurus." I smiled, so far nothing had changed. Then the unexpected happened. At first we thought it was just the minions spawning but this light was too big to just be a minion, then a blue hoof stepped out. It was the same size as Baran's, following it was a Minotaur the exact same size and look of Baran; the only difference was this one was blue instead of brown and had black horns. His health and name appeared three bars and his name "Nato the Colonel Taurus."

"What the fuck! Why are there two bosses?" Ryuk yelled a look of fear on his face. After the shout anyone who hadn't noticed the light stopped and looked at the boss. Looking around I saw many different looks on people's face. Most were looks of shock and worry but every few people you saw someone with a look of pleasantness much like the look on my own. We were the few people who got a thrill out of being pushed into a corner with incredible odds stacked against us. Seeing as no one was moving I decided to take charge and ran to the front.

"Everyone split into two team's one team with me the other with Kirito!" I yelled snapping everyone back to reality. I also received a death stare from Kirito. I made a mental note to apologize to him later.

"Why do we have to follow the Beater!" someone yelled, receiving a wave of agreements from others.

"Because he is a beater, he has more experience and knows the attack combos of Minotaur mobs in this game."

"What's to stop him from leaving us to die?"

"He won't will you?" I asked walking over to Kirito despite the look he gave me. He looked past my shoulders and sighed.

"I guess I don't have any other choice." He said closing his eyes and shrugging his shoulders.

"Thank you, alright Parties A and B with me, parties C and D with Kirito. Alright lets go." With a few yells of anger and grunts of annoyance everyone split up my group heading towards Baran.

"Alright party A you guys provide defense. Party B you guys are offense, my party will provide support for either group. If anyone gets tired or gets low on health the support party will switch with them giving them time to rest and heal. Now let's win." A half hour into the fight and my party was acting as the offensive group. We were waiting for the defense team to provide an opening; we finally got it and charged in hacking and slashing at the boss's legs trying to stager him. We finally dealt enough damage to one of the legs to stagger him. He crouched down and everyone charged to attack anywhere available, the smart players went for the weak point which on Minotaur's is the horns. We had him down to a quarter of his last health bar when he lifted his hammer up.

"EVERYONE BACK UP NOW!" I yelled recognizing the motion. Most players heard me and retreated to a safe distance but a few stayed behind either not hearing or choosing to ignore me. Baran then slammed the Hammer down sending out a shockwave and sending players flying. Two exploded into pixels while in air, the rest landed with a thud. Everyone ran to the survivor's aid defending them so they could heal and recover. After everyone was healed and ready to go we resumed the plan ten minutes later he barely had any health left one more hit could end him. Someone else who noticed charged in ready to get the kill. But the boss spotted him and agro'd him.

"Shit, Ryuk cover me." With that Ryuk was next to me ready for whatever was gonna happen. We charged in following the boss as it charged the player. The boss lifted his hammer for the blow. The player stopped realizing that he was screwed unless he threw up his guard. But by the time he realized he didn't have enough time to react the hammer was on its way down. I activated Reaper's Dash and moved as fast as the skill would let me. Right before I reached the area the hammer would land I jumped and spun knocking the hammer off course barely missing the player. After landing I looked back and saw the boss facing me but not moving. Seconds later the boss shattered, Ryuk standing next to where the boss had been giving a thumbs up.

"Alright everyone just one left." With that we ran towards Nato and the group surrounding his legs. A hundred feet away the Nato shattered. We stopped waiting for the congratulations to show up. Looking around I saw a look of pure horror on a player's right. I turned to look at what he was terrified of. A single Blue light. A single light twice the size of Baran and Nato. Out of the light a leg the size of a tree appeared. His skin/fur was solid black, the light vanished and what was left terrified me. A Minotaur almost as tall as the room we were in. he wore dark chainmail on his lower half and nothing to cover his chest. Instead of two horns he had six golden horns and a platinum crown atop his head. In his hand a massive Warhammer. He let out a yell as his name and health appeared. His name was "Asterius the Taurus King" and he had six health bars.

"OH YOU'VE GOT TO BE FUCKING WITH ME!" Charlie yelled looking exhausted.

"Alright everyone heal and then we go back to the original plan." I yelled tiredly. If we couldn't take Asterius out fast we were screwed everyone was tired and running out of healing potion. Among the players groans and cursing could be heard. Looking around at everyone I even saw the familiar blue of a teleport item being used and then more and more. A minute later what was left of us, I guessed to be around twenty, charged the boss. Luckily the boss had a much lower defense stat then the other two Minotaur's. An hour later we had him down to his last bar of health. I deflected his hammer and everyone went in to attack. After a few hits we managed to stagger him but even down on one knee we still couldn't reach his horns. After a few minutes later he got up and looked at me. I looked right back he had half a health bar left. He started to chase me ignoring the other players. While I ran the others got a few attacks in until he had next to no health.

"ALRIGHT GUYS JUST A FEW MORE HITS!" I yelled as I slowed down and turned to help. Someone from the group ran out as he neared but then he stopped and grabbed his hammer like a golf club and swung while spinning around, he connected with the player and killed him on impact. Everyone immediately backed off to reassess the situation. As everyone backed up Asterius yelled out and blue light started showing up and Minotaur's started appearing as minions. People started panicking not sure what to do. More players teleported away scared and exhausted. At the end there was only twelve of us left.

"EVERYONE WHO ISNT IN MY GROUP KEEP THE MINIONS OFF OF US!" I yelled as we charged and prepared to finish off Asterius. I ran in to block the next attack. The boss raised his hammer and started to bring down the hammer. As it was closing in on me I activated skill to block but the hammer changed direction already mid skill use I couldn't move my scythe to block the hammer which was now coming from my left. With my final seconds I turned and saw the look of horror on Charlie's face, and then a blur crossed my vision. The next second I was flying through the air looking at my health bar slowly decrease. Just before my health reached zero it stopped decreasing. I landed and immediately grabbed a health crystal and used it. I looked to my friends to assure them I was okay but they were already running towards me. Only they didn't stop at me they kept going and stopped about ten feet away. It took me a second but I realized they were crowding around something, no someone Ryuk wasn't among them and I could see his boots on the ground. A terrifying realization came to me the blur, not dying after the hit and Ryuk on the floor. I got up and ran over only to have my suspicion confirmed. I looked at his health on my HUD. Zero. He had seconds left until he disappeared from this world and the real world permanently. I fell to my knees next to his body.

"Why?" I asked tears forming and streaking down my face.

"You're not the only one who can play hero." He replied smiling. I only cried harder.

"Hey before I go you've got to promise me something."

"Anything."

"Make sure everyone here is there when you kill Kayaba." He said giving his signature smirk.

"I will I promise." I said crying still. With that he shattered still smirking and giving a thumbs up. I got up and let the rage overwhelm me. I yelled and charged Asterius giving up on any strategy whatsoever. Kirito thank god he was still there saw me coming he blocked in incoming attack and I went to work hacking and slashing ignoring anything that came at me. Slash after slash I kept going even after he disappeared I just kept going. After the boss disappeared I went after the walls not caring if it was an immortal object. The only reason I stopped was Charlie, she threw herself on me not caring if she got hurt in the process. Even with her on me I kept going for five minutes. I sat down leaned my head into the crook of her neck and just cried for an hour. My best friend gone and no matter what I did he would never come back.

"It's okay." Charlie said, I realized she had been saying it the entire time but my anger and depression clouded my senses. I got off her and leaned against the wall. For a while I stayed there with my head between my knees.

"Is there anything I could do to help?" Charlie asked a concerned look on her face.

"No, I just need to be alone right now."

"Alright we'll go activate the teleport gate ill message the name of the village so you can use a crystal to get there." And with that the only person left was Kirito. He walked up to me and just stood there for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He said and walked away. Now I was the only one left in the dark room. After another hour I got the message from Charlie. Ten minutes later I got up. I was walking up the stairs when I remembered I landed the final blow on Asterius. I opened my menu and looked through my inventory as I walked. I stopped when I saw the item, a fresh wave of tears started when I saw the name.

\- Soul of Friendship -

\- Ring -

\- +5 defense to everyone in your party -


	6. Thoughtless

Chapter 6: Thoughtless

-December 24th, 6:00 AM-

I opened my eyes to see my clock reading 6:00 AM.

"It's time." I said quietly as to not wake up Charlie. I equipped my cloak and pant and started to head out.

"Again? Don't you think you're strong enough already? you've been at it for almost ten days straight now." Charlie said as i glanced back. she was sitting up in bed her hair was covering half her face.

"It's not that i'm not strong enough it's that i have to be the strongest."

"I know you're still hurting because of Ryuk's death but doing this is suicide especially alone."

"I'm doing this alone because i don't want any of you to get hurt."

"So instead you'll bare all the pain and tragedy?"

"yes." All i heard in response was a sigh from her. i started heading for the door when i heard the sound of sheets being moved. i looked back and saw her getting out of bed. I continued to the door. I had opened it halfway she put her hand on it stopping it. I looked at her with no expression on my face. it was getting harder to feel anything but anger and hatred as the days went by.

"I've let you do this by yourself for nine days now, that's long enough if you're going to keep this up then i'm coming with you." She said poking me in the chest to emphasise what she was saying.

"And if i say no."

"I'll follow you weather you like it or not."

"I'm much faster than you though."

"I'll look on the map."

"And if I block you."

"I'll get Kallen or Nyssa involved in this as well."

"Fine." I said defeated a small smile coming to my face. We walked out of the inn onto the floor of Lobria the main town of the fourth floor. I Had missed the third floor boss because I was in dungeons too often to get word of the date.

-December 24th, 12:00 PM-

"Don't you think this is enough for the day? we've been fighting for six hours straight now." Charlie asked after the tenth dead end and thirtieth fight.

"No. Not yet, maybe in a few more hours." I replied as i walked back the way we had come.

"Can we at least take a break i don't have your dexterity stat."

"Fine. let's get back to a safe zone though." I said annoyed that we had to stop.

"How far?"

"Azazel how far?" I asked. immediately a crow landed on my shoulder.

"About nine-hundred yards you also have five more Treant's in the way."

"Thanks scout for players when we get there." and with that he flew off into the shadows. we walked for a while before encountering the Treants. Treants are easy to fight especially if you have a high speed stat like charlie and i did. We rinsed through them and made it to the safe zone in thirty minutes. A minute later Azazel landed on my shoulder.

"There's only one other person here but he's still at the beginning and will take him a while before he gets here."

"Thanks you can go if you want to now. Please check if the player is close every now and then."

"Will do. I think i'll go take a nap. call me if you need anything. Goodbye Charlie."

"Goodbye Azazel." Charlie responded with a smile. with that Azazel once again flew off into the shadows.

"So what level are you?" I asked.

"15. you?" She said looking at her hud

"17. God i'm hungry." I said looking through my inventory and remembering i forgot to buy supplies this morning.

"Oh… i brought lunch." Charlie said opening her menu and then pulling out two sandwiches.

"When did you get these?" i asked bewildered, she hadn't left my side since we partied up this morning.

"Last night." she responded a sly smile on her face.

"You've planned this out?"

"Yes. Yes i have." she said matter of factly.

"So what's next in your plan then."

"You tell me how you met John." The somewhat happy mood i was in dissapeared with that statement. A fresh wave of guilt and sadness washed over me.

"Why do you want to know?" I said in a hollow tone.

"You never have told me so i'm interested and i'm hoping this will help you work through some of the issue's you're going through."

"You're not gonna take no for an answer by any chance will you."

"Nope." She said leaning on my shoulder to get comfortable. Her way of saying you're not moving until i'm happy with your answer.

"Fine. we first met when we were in Middle school."

-September 21st, 2016-

It was the second week of school. the second week of a new school where i knew no one. It was also the fourth week since my dad died. I was still upset by it and closed off from everyone else. even my teacher was starting to worry.

"Jason can you come here?" My Sixth grade teacher Ms. Blue called out. I walked over while everyone else did the ever so annoying ooooooh you're in trouble.

"Don't worry you're not in trouble or anything i just wanted to ask how you were doing, i know going to a new school is difficult."

"I'm fine." I lied both to her and to myself. nothing hurts more than knowing you're alone, so i told myself i wasn't, hopping i would eventually believe myself.

"Also your mom called she said to let you know you're to take the bus to your grandma's house. also your violin came in today so i'm gonna send you down to meet the orchestra teacher and get it okay?" i merely nodded in reply. on the inside i was a little sad all i wanted to do today was go home be alone and play some video games. now i had to not only go pick up an instrument i didn't want in the first place, but also go to my grandparents house where they shunned the mere use of a phone for anything other than calling someone.

"Do you know how to get there on your own?" I shook my head no, no one had bothered to show the new kid where the orchestra room was.

"Alright let me get someone then… John could you come here please." Another kid walked over. he was slightly taller than me with dark skin and short black hair.

"Jason here is going to be joining you in the orchestra so I was wondering if you could show him the way orchestra room to pick up his violin today?"

"Sure, might as well get to know him if he's joining the orchestra." The kid replied with a mischievous smile on his face.

"And no detour or getting "lost" again." She said using finger quotes when she said lost.

"Why i'd never willingly go somewhere i wasn't supposed to."

"Then why did the teachers catch you in the faculty lounge the other day."

"I… was looking for the bathroom i swear."

"Of course just make sure it doesn't happen again." she said a small smile on her face.

"Okay." He said sounding both defeated and happy, and with that we left.

"Okay follow me." he said i nodded even though he wasn't looking. we started walking taking a few turns eventually i recognized where we were going, the lunchroom.

"But Ms. Blue said not to go anywhere that wasn't the orchestra room." I protested upon reaching the doors to the lunchroom.

"Jason right… are you seriously gonna live doing everything that the person in charge says? Either way as long as she doesn't find out we'll be fine." he said while entering the room and getting online with some fruit snacks he grabbed passing by. Not knowing what to I joined him. he looked at me and sighed.

"If you're gonna do this you gotta do it right you can't look nervous like you aren't supposed to be here act natural. Just act like me." He said while going to lean on the wall. i tried to mimic him but felt weird and out of place. He looked at me again and sighed once more.

"If you're gonna be like that then just go wait by the bathroom or something i don't wanna get caught just because you look nervous." He said with a tone of disappointment. I left him and waited by the door to the bathroom across the hall. A minute later he came back with two bags of snacks.

"Here." He said handing the second bag to me.

"Why?" I asked taking it from him.

"Consider it payment for waiting and for not telling Ms. Blue about this." I smiled and thanked him for it. We started walking again.

"Anyways we're gonna have to work on your acting later." He said as we reached a turn.

"Why?"

"Because lessons are once a week and were the only violinists in Ms. Blue's class."

"Oh. I see." At least i would know one person in orchestra. We got to the room, grabbed our instruments and looked for the teacher but he wasn't there. John shrugged his shoulders and we headed back to class. we got back without interruption.

"Any troubles?" Ms. Blue asked when we got back.

"Everything went perfectly right Jason?" Ryuk answered with a big grin.

"Yes." Just the one word made Ms. Blue smile. I had gone from being silent to speaking even if it was just one word.

"And you boy's went straight there and nowhere else right Jason?" She said looking at me. I could see John in the corner of my a look of pleading on his face. He was to focused on me to see Ms. Blue was looking at him as well, but she hadn't said anything yet.

"Yes straight there and back." I finally said as calmly as I could. Ms. Blue smiled at that.

"Good, now back to your seats and pack up the schools almost over." We walked back and packed up. ten minutes later I was on the bus heading to my grandparents.

"YELLER ROAD." The bus driver called out as we approached the road my grandparents lived on. I got up and off as the bus stopped.

"HEY WAIT UP." I heard someone call out. i turned around to see John Walking towards me.

"You live here too? cool gives us time to work on your acting. Which house?" He asked smiling.

" My grandparents live in that one." I pointed to the first house on the left of the street.

"Cool. I live a few houses down. I'll come knock when i'm done with my homework." He said walking away.

"Okay." I said smiling turning to walk down the driveway. An hour later I had finished and was reading a book when my Grandma called me.

"Jason your friends here." I put the book down and ran to the door.

"Alright let's go work on your acting." He said while we walked to the yard. we spent the day messing around with stupid scenarios and acting them out. eventually my mom came to get me.

"Who's your friend Jason?" She asked as i got in the car.

"His name's John. Can I come here tomorrow?" I asked hoping for a yes.

"Sorry but we have plans for tomorrow. remember it's your sister's birthday."

"Ugh… Why didn't she have to come here?" I asked.

"Because you're eleven and she's sixteen." She answered as if it was the millionth time she had answered which it probably was.

"But you can come back next week." She said smiling that i wanted to go again.

"Thanks." i said the biggest smile on my face. And so I began to hang out with John after that day. and every week i would go over and we would "Practice" our acting. By the end of the month he had deemed good enough to stand in line with him on the way to orchestra. It was three months after that got into my first fight.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I looked up to see Andrew the school bully looking at me. it was recess and I was sitting under a tree reading manga. John was talking with Shawn another friend of his.

"It's called Manga." I answered going back to my book.

"Looks Fuckin Stupid." He said ripping the book from my hands.

"HEY GIVE THAT BACK!" I yelled getting up. the yelling caught the Attention of John, but we were too far away for any teachers to hear me.

"Why? What are you gonna do about it?" He taunted holding the book just above my reach.

"Please that was a gift from my dad." I pleaded.

"Oh your dad gave it to you then here i'm so sorry." He said while holding the book out for me.

"Thank you." I said relieved. As soon as I reached for it though he pulled it back away.

"Haha psyche." He said

"Please." I pleaded once again as tears started to swell up in my eyes.

"Oh are you gonna cry?" He asked seeing the tears.

"Haha. That's fucking precious." he said laughing at my misery.

"That's enough Andrew give it back to him." John had come over with Shawn after seeing what had happened. Andrew put a finger to his chin in thought.

"Nah. now it's enough." I watched in horror as he started tearing the pages out of the book. Finally i snapped and lunged at him which was exactly what he wanted. He dropped the book and moved out of the way sticking a leg out causing me to trip and land on my face. I got up and charged again. this time when he moved i turned and tackled him. We had begun to attract the attention of some of the kids in the area. We began to struggle to get on top. He being much bigger than me won and got on top. he started to hit me anywhere he could. once my face then when i brought my hands up to protect myself he switched to my chest, then my sides. Just as he was getting ready to hit my face again he was knocked off of me by someone else. I looked over and saw John had tackled him and was now punching him. I got up and limped slowly over, I couldn't feel my left leg. By the time I reached him he had a look of pure hatred in his eyes. Andrew was on the ground trying to defend himself, his face was covered in blood. I had calmed down enough to know Andrew had had enough.

"John stop he's had enough." I said putting an arm on his shoulder to pull him off. He turned at me with a fist raised. It took him a few seconds to realise who i was he lowered his fist and got off andrew who backed away as far as he could as quickly as he could. I went to pick up what was left of my book. John followed and picked up the pages Andrew had ripped out.

"We'll Tape them in later." He said picking up the last one.

"Thanks."

-December 24th, 2022 5:00 PM-

"And that's how he became my best friend." I finished my story with charlie now resting her head on my legs."

"I had no idea he was that defensive of his friends." Charlie said stunned.

"Why did you think he killed himself for me?"

"I don't know… I guess he thought he would survive the hit." She answered a few second later after thinking about it bit.

"No he was just that defensive of his friends. Odds are if Kallen had been in the same situation he would have done the exact same thing." I said smiling, remembering what he had been like.

"I see why you two were close. you guys are so similar. You're incredibly defensive of your friends as well."

"I learned from the best." I responded.

"Even the killing yourself part too." She said getting up and looking at me.

"What?" I asked confused and angered.

"John Killed himself trying to save his friend. now you're out here by yourself leveling up to protect your friends. Do you really think that's what he would've wanted?" She asked

"OF COURSE IT IS!"

"EVEN IF YOU DIE IN RETURN!" She yelled.

"I DON'T CARE IF I DIE!"

"WHAT WOULD DO YOU THINK THE REST OF US WANT FOR YOU?" she asked

"I DON'T CA-" Before I could finish i was smacked hard across the face.

"That's just it you're not thinking about what everyone else is going through, hell you're not even thinking about what John would have wanted." she said with tears in her face.

"You're not thinking about what i'd be like if you did die." I hate it when she's right. I hadn't been thinking at all, realization hit me that she was right. Before I could say anything she pulled out a blue crystal.

"Teleport LOBRIA." She called out crushing the crystal with tears in her face.

"WAIT CHARLIE I'M SORRY." I said getting quieter because she was already gone. I sat down and waited for a minute.

"You know you're kind of an asshole." A voice said to my left. I looked over it was Kirito.

"Yeah I know how much did you hear?"

"Everything starting at Andrew the dick."

"Damn it Azazel." I said under my breath, I swear i could hear him laughing.

"You Should Apologize."

"Yeah but how? That's the real problem." I said lost in thought about how I could make it up to her this time.

"That's Easy." He said a with small chuckle.

"I'm sorry did I miss something? How is it easy, i royally screwed up this time?" I asked confused. he looked at me strangely.

"You do know what today is right?"

"Thursday right?" He face palmed at my answer. After a minute he recovered himself.

"It's Christmas eve moron." He said as if i was in idiot, which at this point even i thought i was.

"Shit." I said confirming the date with my hud.

"Just being with her tonight means you're asking for her forgiveness." He said walking off, despite his choice of weaponry he really was a smart guy actually.

"Shit I gotta get back." I reached for a crystal but found myself out of them. I looked around for Kirito but he was already gone. I started running in the direction of the entrance. I made it relatively easily in about two hours. It took another hour to get back to town. I ran for the inn stopping only to buy some flowers, a katana, two rapiers, a twin sword and a war axe. I made it back to the inn at eight thirty. I walked to mine and Charlie's room and knocked on the door using the flowers to cover my face.

"Who is it?" Charlie asked.

"Delivery for Charlie." I said doing my best NPC impression. A few seconds later she opened the door. I lowered the flowers. She was still pissed.

"I'm sorry for what I put you and the others through, And you're right this isn't what John would have wanted."

"I'm glad you're sorry." The anger subsided from her face replaced by joy.

"So… can i come in now?" she rolled her eyes.

"Yes but one other thing." I got prepared for another smack. I got it.

"That's for being an asshole. And this is for the apology and the flowers."

I was genuinely and happily surprised when she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

"Just the cheek?"

"I'm still angry with you, just less so now."

"Thanks." I said exhausted. minutes later i was in bed asleep. I woke up the next day at nine. charlie was already awake and eating breakfast.

"Thanks for letting me sleep." I said groggily.

"No problem you needed it. So what are your plans for today, off to fight some more?" She asked hope in her voice.

"No, I think i'm done with the fighting for a while. Today i'm gonna hand out the gifts I bought then spend the rest of the day with my beautiful girlfriend." I said hugging her from behind and resting my chin on her head.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" she asked smiling. she was just happy that i was out of harm's way for a while.

"Almost everyday, and Merry Christmas."


	7. Lifehunter

Chapter 7: Lifehunter

-January 29th, 2023, 12:00 PM-

"ALL RIGHT GOOD JOB EVERYONE! GET SOME REST MY GROUP WILL SCOUT OUT THE NEXT FLOOR AND ACTIVATE THE TELEPORT GATE IN THE MAIN TOWN." I yelled after the 23rd floor boss had been defeated. It took us three hours to accomplish and we lost five players, but even still the surviving players were hyped about the win. It was the third boss we had taken down in the past month.

"Alright let's head out guy's." I said gathering my friends.

"I still can't believe we're the heads of the clearing group." Charlie said as we exited the dungeon through the staircase. Somehow we had become the heads of the clearing group, I don't know how, we just showed up to the floor clearing meetings and people just started looking to us for the plan. we knew we weren't the best choice but when a couple hundred people all look to you, you don't really get much say in the matter. we're just lucky Seamuz was a great tactician, he came up with all the plans so far, with the information we were able to gather from scouting parties, my knowledge of the game and Seamuz's mind we were able to get through twenty-six battles losing only a hundred player's.

"I mean three months ago I hadn't even played a video game, I never thought I'd be trapped in one, let alone leading the group trying to beat it."

"I know what you mean." Nyssa said as we reached the top of the stairs.

"Have you guys been back since day one? The Town of Beginnings that is." Seamuz asked.

"No." everyone but Ace said. Ace of course had gone back several times to give away his unneeded equipment.

"The people there think of the clearing group are either these mythical warriors who can't die or some group of suicidal idiots. Half the town is almost worshiping us down there." Seamuz said as we reached a large lake.

"Which way?" Kallen asked looking both ways for a bridge but not finding one.

"Azazel can you come here." I said aloud, a few seconds later he appeared wearing what looked like Silk pajamas, he looked pissed.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Kallen asked seeing him.

"For your information I was going to sleep." He snarled back at her.

"Demons sleep?" Ace asked curiously. Azazel looked at him dumbfounded.

"Of course demons sleep everythi-. You know what nevermind, There is a bridge three miles to the east and groups of Merfolk and Angel fish in the way. Your welcome and goodnight." He said and with a snap of his fingers he disappeared in a puff of black mist.

"Alright let's start walking. Nyssa, Kallen keep watch for those mobs." They Nodded their heads and we were off. we made it easily enough to the bridge and crossed onto an island. At the town we were able to purchase a map of the floor. The Map showed us that the entire floor was one giant lake with tons of islands connected by bridges. It took us another four hours to finally get to Panareze the central town of the floor and activate the teleport gate.

"Finally. We can get some goddamn sleep." Seamuz said walking towards the Inn we passed on the way here. We all started walking eager to rest after hours of fighting and walking. It had been so long we could even see the sun starting to come up. I looked around for Charlie and found her back at the gate looking at the rising sun. I walked back and stood by her.

"Beautiful isnt it?" She asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah. I can't remember the last time I saw one."

"Me too… Hey I wanna show you something." She said grabbing me and dragging me off. twenty minutes later we were on the top of a hill of another island. The hill was tall enough that we could see over any of the buildings and see most of the floor. It was breathtaking, crystal clear water everywhere with the orange of the rising sun reflecting off of it.

"This is the one." Charlie said quietly leaning on me.

"Huh?" I asked both confused and distracted by the scenery.

"This is the floor I wanna live on. Let's buy a house here." She said turning to look into my eyes.

"Alright, let's move here." I replied, She smiled and leaned in for a kiss.

-February 17th-

"Here's to a new house!" Kallen cried out raising her glass. Everyone joined her in the toast.

"Took a while but we finally saved up enough money to buy a house." Charlie said after taking a drink from her glass.

"Yeah but it was worth it." I said putting my glass down. We were sitting in the middle of our new living room with. It was a white room with two couches and a table in the middle. There were other chairs and painting around the room, but right now everyone was sitting around the table eating and drinking. It had been a while since I felt this content. I was sitting with my girlfriend and friends eating, drinking, telling stories and having fun. Seamuz had just finished telling how he had met Ace.

"Okay, Atticus's turn." Kallen said after Seamuz finished.

"Alright what do you wanna know?" I asked, I was out of amusing stories.

"How about how you got your title." Seamuz said.

"Yeah tell us Mr. Lifehunter." Nyssa said, followed by agreement from everyone else.

"Alright alright. It was during the Beta test…"

-August 5th, 2022-

It was the fifth day of the beta, I still couldn't believe that I was one of only ten-thousand people who got to live in this world. We were still on the first floor but we had found the boss room. Everyone was trying to either solo the boss or create a party and attack it, nobody wanted to form a group and fight it. I was walking around Harunka looking for any quests I hadn't already done. I couldn't find any so I decided to just go grind in a nearby dungeon. I fought for a couple hours, leveling up three times.

"AAAAHH." I heard someone scream in the distance. I ran in the direction I heard the scream. I arrived in time to see a player stab another player with a sword, killing him.

"Why the hell did you do that?" I asked confused, this was the first PK I had seen or heard about. The man turned and smiled at me. He had a two-handed sword and was wearing heavy black steel armor

"Why… hmm, I don't really know, I just kinda felt like it. And you know what… it was quite thrilling." He responded.

"Wow… thats kinda fucked up dude." I said. A chill ran down my spine. I pulled out my Axe just in case he tried to attack me.

"Meh, It's just a game. Although I do kinda wanna do it again. So could you be a friend and let me kill you." He said turning and walking towards me.

"Hell no. It might just be a game but I prefer to not die." I got into a combat stance.

"Your choice, but i'm still gonna kill you." He said shrugging. He charged me raising his sword. His sword started glowing red indicating he was activating a skill. I sidestepped to the right as the sword came down where I had been. while he was picking his sword back up I swung my axe towards him, but he brought his sword up enough to deflect my axe causing it to cut his side causing much less damage than what I would've caused. He attacked again, I tried to used the pole of my axe to block, but wasn't fast enough and he cut me deep.

"You're much better than the guy I just killed." He said a sadistic smile on his face.

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." I responded. I activated a skill causing me to spin in two circles. The first spin I hit him in the chest causing a large amount of damage, the second time he ducked and stabbed at my feet. After that we both repositioned ourselves. My health was in the red, but so was his. The fight would be over in the next few hits. We charged each other, he raised his sword and it started glowing red, he activated the same skill as before. I knew what to do this time. I dodged to the left and ran behind him, I swung my axe into his neck and decapitated him.

-February 17th-

"That's it, you killed one guy?" Kallen asked.

"I'm calling bullshit, no way do you kill one guy and earn Lifehunter as a title." Nyssa responded.

"First of all I didn't just kill one guy, I killed the first PK'er. Secondly I killed a lot more PK'ers."

"Why?" Ace asked.

"I ran into a few more over the next week. And after that I decided to actively hunt them down."

"Again why?" This time Seamuz.

"It was mostly to test my skill and get stronger. Sure mobs can do that too, but they don't think like humans they stick to a pre-made pattern. Plus killing is wrong no matter if it's in a game or the real world. After a while of hunting them people started calling me Lifehunter I don't know why, they just did." I explained although it wasn't the whole truth. Sure that was a big part of it but the other part was that I had enjoyed killing them. But I could never let them know about that part no matter how much I trusted them, not even Charlie could know.

"Okay. who's ne-" Charlie started but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"You guys expecting anyone?" Kallen asked.

"No." Charlie responded.

"I'll get it." I said getting up. I walked to the door and opened it. I was shocked by who was there.

"You." I hissed. Looking at the small girl at my door.

"You." She hissed back.

"How the hell did you get here?" I asked angrily.

"Doesn't matter." She replied just as angrily. Charlie got up to come see who it was.

"Jason wh-." Charlie froze when she saw who was at the door.

"BIG SIS!" The girl at the door screamed.


	8. Nothingness

**A/N Hi guys been a long time sorry I haven't ****uploaded anything in a while, I've been busy working on another project that's taken me a while to do the firs chapter of. If your'e interested in reading it it's up on wattpad just go search my name on wattpad and you'll find it. Also this chapter was just an idea I had a while ago. this chapter has nothing to do with the overall plot of reaper's summit, so anything that happens in this will not happen in the actual story, hence it is called an extra chapter. now you do have to know that some of what was said in this will happen eventually in the actual plot. one thing that i can say for fact is that Atticus and Charlie will never break up. i strongly believe that in order to have great strength you need someone you love more then your family and for Atticus that person is charlie. I would also like to thank the person who said i should enter Reaper's summit in a competition thank you but i've decided not to. im writing this for fun i dont care if i win anything, i only care that people are enjoying. so thank you for liking it enough to say that but im not entering it. so with that please enjoy the first extra chapter of Reaper's summit.**

Extra chapter: Nothingness

"I HATE YOU!" She yelled as I walked in. Among the many things I thought I would hear when I got back that was not one of them. No sooner had I closed the door and turned around had Charlie started yelling at me. At first I thought it was some kinda joke, but when I saw the look on her face, tears streaming down her face as well as a mixture of emotions I couldn't make out other then one… hopelessness. Before I had time to register that this was happening she started yelling again.

"I HATE YOU! EVER SINCE THIS STUPID FUCKING GAME YOU'VE BEEN NOTHING LESS THAN ECSTATIC! ALL WHILE I'VE BEEN TERRIFIED! I FULLY BELIEVE EACH DAY WILL BE MY LAST, ALL BECAUSE OF THIS GAME! I NEVER ASKED TO BE HERE, YOU FUCKING TALKED ME INTO IT THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Each word hit me like a bullet.

"Why are you only bringing this up now?"

"I'VE BEEN THINKING LIKE THIS FOR A WHILE NOW, BUT I'VE FINALLY HAD ENOUGH OF YOU, THIS WORLD, AND my weak self." The last words barely even a whisper. She had been yelling at me with her head done and her fists clenched at her sides. But now she looked up and looked me in the eye's. The next thing she said left me stunned and unable to move for hours.

"IF YOU CAN'T EVEN PROTECT YOUR FRIENDS THEN HOW CAN YOU PROTECT ME, YOU'RE WORTHLESS...That's why I never want to see you or any of the others ever again." She said in a hushed voice. And with that she left giving me no time to respond. By the time i came back to my senses she was gone and had removed me from her friends list. I searched all over town but she was nowhere to be my head hanging low I returned to the inn and climbed the stairs to ou-... my room, shut the door, and sat down. The pain I felt wasn't one that lead to crying, like that of watching your friend's die, it was one of nothingness. It's like when a family member who has been in the hospital for a long time passes away. Sure it hurts but you already knew it would happen, you're more surprised they even lasted that long. And deep down no matter how much I had hoped I knew that this was coming.

-4 weeks later-

It's been a month since I last saw he. The clearing group has beat two more floors. Everything has gone on like before… well not everything. I'm still in the same room, no new equipment, levels, or skills. I've only left it to eat, and occasionally to search for Kallen or Ironwolf telling me to get the hell up and move on. I know I need catch up with the others, but every time I try Charlie's words played over in my head "YOU'RE WORTHLESS." I'll probably stay here until the game ends. Hell I might even just go kill myself there's no point in fighting now. I had no reason to live in this world, or the other. Charlie was everything to me.

"Fuck it." And with that I got up and left the inn. I walked through town in a daze heading for the monster fields. Before I had realised it I had equipped my armour and weapon out of habit. To lazy to remove my gear I headed out to fields prepared to die. The more I walked the more past memories came to me.

"I HATE YOU!" Charlie's face flashed before me. After that more memories from our time together. The first time she used a sword skill, when the game first started, when she bought her first katana, lastly her comforting me after Ryuk's death. The next memories were of Ace's death. It played over and over again in my head. I reached a group of wyvern who immediately agro'd me. I stood there head hanging low ready to die.

"Atticus what the hell are you are doing!" Someone yelled at me. I turned and saw Azazel, In his hand was a sword, three more were floating around him.

"What's it look like?"

"It looks like a man wallowing in self-pity, about to make a choice he can never unmake." He finished and launched a sword at the wyvern skewering one of them.

"What's it to you anyways? You're just a program." I looked at my health, at this rate the wyvern would take a few minutes to kill me.

"First of all i'm not whatever a program is, i'm a demon. Second i'm your friend of course I care." Another sentence another sword through a wyvern.

"I don't care anymore. I have nothing left to live for."

"That's not true and you know it! Think of what your friends and family will do if you die."

"WHAT ABOUT THE ONES I'VE ALREADY FAILED! WHAT ABOUT RYUK, WHAT ABOUT NYSSA, AND ACE! AND WHAT ABOUT CHARLIE!" With each name their face into my mind, and with their faces came a fresh wave of guilt. The wyvern to my left started charging a breath attack but before it could finish Azazel killed it with another a sword.

"YOU'RE STRONGER THEN THEM! THEIR SACRIFICES HAVE MADE YOU STRONGER!"

"EVEN IF THAT'S TRUE WHAT'S THE POINT IN BEING STRONGER IF I CAN'T PROTECT THE PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT THE MOST!"

"I can't answer that only you can." The wyvern to my right charged earning it Azazel's last sword. Now my health was in the red.

"You can't stop me, If I wanted I could just jump off the side of Aincrad."

"You're right I can't stop you, but before it's too late remember your promise to Ryuk and Ace."With that he turned and walked into the shadows and disappeared. I hate it when people do that, when they wait till the last possible second to to give you the reason to not do something you'll regret, but thank god or satan in this case that Azazel did. Ryuk's dying wish how could i have forgotten. Even if Ace and Nyssa had died I still had five people counting on me, and many to hunt down and kill. I grabbed my scythe and in one motion took it off my back and activated a skill to distance myself from the last wyvern. I grabbed a used a healing crystal. I dodged the wyverns charge and cut it in half.

-Two hours later-

I waited in the lobby of the inn while everyone gathered. It didn't take long for everyone to show up. Kallen was the first to show up, followed by Iron, Seamuz, Animal and cooker.

"Thank god you finally left that room." Kallen said giving me a hug when she reached me.

"Yeah took a long enough." Ironwolf said giving me fist bump when he reached me.

"Can you tell us why you messaged for a meeting in the middle night?" Animal asked tiredly.

"Yeah and why is there a guild symbol next to your name." Seamuz asked curiously. I smiled, opened my menu and sent everyone a message.

"The hell is this?" Seamuz asked now annoyed.

"Open it and find out." one by one they opened it all greeted by the same thing

-You have been invited to join the following guild-

Reaper's Summit


	9. New Friends And Enemies

**A/N Hey I'm back sorry this chapter took so long I was stuck trying t figure out how I wanted to introduce Charlie's little sister, but I figured it out finally. I am sorry to say this but I don't know how often I'll be uploading now. I have a few other stories I want to write but Reaper's Summit will always be my primary one, And I do know this I might never finish the rest of the ideas I have floating around in my head but I will finish Reaper's summit no matter what. It might take me years (I really fucking hope not), but I do have a plan for this story and I really wanna see it through and see what people think of it. So thanks for reading, please comment (You probably wont, like normal) and favorite it if you like it, and if you really like it tell your god damn fucking friends about it and get them to read it. Anyways I hope you enjoy the latest chapter. Enjoy**

Chapter 8: New Friends And Enemies

-February 17, 2023-

"BIG SIS!" The girl at the door screamed before charging past me and jumping at Charlie. Charlie responded by falling on the floor and hugging the girl. Everyone else charged in weapons drawn when they heard the crash. I quickly signaled that everything was fine.

"Emma?" Charlie asked looking confused and skeptical at the girl lying on top of her.

"Yep." The girl responded lifting her head just enough to look into Charlie's eyes. It was a while before anyone said anything.

"So who are you and why are you here?" Ace asked. Charlie looked up embarrassed as if she was just realizing everyone was watching her.

"Oh right I guess I should introduce you. Everyone this is my little sister Emma." Charlie said finally standing up.

"Hi I also go by AnimalGRL in game." Emma said looking around at everyone.

"Emma these are my friends and teammates. This is Seamuz, Ace, Kallen, Nyssa and you already know Jason."

"It's Atticus in game. And Again how did you get here I didn't think you had a copy of SAO?" I asked annoyed at the intrusion.

"Of course I have a copy I'm a gamer almost as much as you Mr. Lifehunter." I tensed up a little when she said Lifehunter. Sure I was a well-known player but no one had been calling lifehunter as far as I remembered.

"How do you know that name?" I asked glaring at her.

"What. You didn't think you were the only beta-tester around did you?" Everyone seemed surprised by this, even Charlie.

"You were in the beta?" Charlie said finally breaking the silence after a minute.

"Yep although I was never as good as Jason or the other well known players. Speaking of them you seen them around?"

"I've seen Kirito and a few others a few times but I haven't seen Angel. Why?"

"Angel's been looking for you and the rest of the beta clearing group." That got my attention.

"Why?"

"I don't know. She recognized my name and asked if I had seen anyone else."

"How long ago and where?"

"Couple weeks ago on floor 15. Dont know where she is now, but I bet she'll find you before long, you're becoming more and more famous as head of the clearing group." I shrugged and walked back to the living room to sit down.

"Seeing as you're here now, and I'm guessing you don't plan on leaving anytime soon, you might as well join us for now." Everyone came back to the table slowly and the festivities continued.

"So Animal now that you're here what exactly do you plan on doing?" Kallen asked after a while.

"Well I'm gonna stick with Charlie for now."

"Where are you gonna live?" Nyssa asked.

"With Charlie of course." Charlie twitched at the comment. The house only had one bedroom.

"Emma, you might not have realised this but Jason and I just managed to buy this house and it only has one bedroom in it." Charlie explained to her sister getting a pout from her.

"But I just found you after three months." She whined, Charlie tried to explain but only made matters worse.

"It's fine she can sleep on the couch tonight." I said tired of the whining and crying, plus I knew Charlie would be happier with Emma spending the night here.

"Are you sure? I know you two don't exactly like each other." Charlie said looking up a smile on her face.

"It's fine. But let's hurry up and finish this party it's getting late and I'm getting tired." I said tired from the night's excitement.

"Alright well then here's to the team's newest member!" Ace cheered, raising his glass into the air with everyone joining him.

-February 25th, 2023-

It's be a week since Emma joined the group and starting living with Charlie and me. The twenty-fifth floor boss had been found and we were about to start the strategy meeting for it. We had set up in the Inn closest to the dungeon.

"So what do we know about the boss so far?" I started after waiting for everyone to show up.

"His name is Lobo the Giant King, he's a two-headed giant using a large two-handed club as his weapon." Someone called out from the crowed gathered. Not much but it was a good start.

"Good, if he only has the one weapon then he probably has a good amount of sword skills. anything else?"

"When my party went in to scout we noticed he had a very erratic attack pattern." Another voice called out.

"Alright, he's a giant, he uses a large two-handed club, probably a large number of skills and an erratic attack pattern. Great. Anything else?" No one had anything else to say which meant that we knew a hell of alot less then most boss battles we went into.

"Alright in that case I gue-" Before I could finish a small player in full armor burst through the Inn's door out of breath. He looked around, spotted me and ran over to me.

"Boss...room…...Kibaou….The Army….FUCKED!" He said heavy panting in between each word. Even with the heavy panting most people figured out what he had meant. As soon as people figured it out they were out the door running towards the labyrinth. I was headed out myself followed by the rest of the team.

"Why would Kibaou lead The Army into a boss fight he knew nothing about?" Nyssa asked as we ran through the town menu's open equipping armor and weapons.

"I don't know. I mean he is an idiot but I never thought he would be this stupid." I yelled back as we cleared the gates to the town. As we ran we got the rest of the story from one of the players friends who was receiving messages from him. What happened was that Kibaou led a group of 40 players into the boss room. When he realized how screwed he was, he decided to remain and fight hoping his group could tank it long enough to kill it. We ran for another half an hour along with everyone else before we reached the bottom of the labyrinth.

"Alright we know almost nothing about the boss, so I want our strongest forwards clearing mobs on the way there. When we get there all tanks to the front to block attack while everyone else learns his patterns and helps retrieve injured. LET'S DO THIS AND HAVE EVERYONE RETURN TO TOWN SAFELY!" Seamuz yelled out after giving the attack plan. We raced through the dungeon as fast as we could. After about twenty minutes we finally reached the boss room. What I saw horrified me. Of the original forty players, only ten were left including Kibaou.

"JUST AS WE PLANNED… READY, GO!" Seamuz yelled charging ahead to tank some damage and attack the boss. About half the players we had joined him leaving me and the rest to study the boss and help the injured. I personally ran over to Kibaou who was crawling on the floor an arm missing, and the hand on his other arm gone as well, his health was dangerously low in the red zone.

"So why did you think leading a forty man group into a boss room we knew nothing about was a good idea?" I asked using a healing potion on him, it wouldn't heal him completely but it would get his health out of the red and to a much safer place.

"FUCK OFF ASSHOLE!" He yelled as I dragged his body back out of the boss room. I sighed dropping him when we crossed the threshold.

"I'll be back later. I have a boss to fight." I left as he started stringing together a lot of curse words. When I got back things seemed to be going well the last of the injured had been moved, the boss was halfway through his second to last health bar, and I could see some of the damage dealers mixed in with the defenders. They were using what looked like a hit and get out of the fucking way tactic. I joined in looking around for charlie while studying the bosses movement. I didn't see her but I wasn't worried her health bar in the corner of my HUD still said she was in the green. The boss did move very erratically and had a lot of skills and a fuck ton of defense. Throughout the battle I saw at least five players die. After an hour we finally killed it, Kirito sidestepped the boss's club at the last second and stabbed him dealing the final blow. Everyone jumped up and down high-fiving each other or mourned the loss of a friend quietly. My friends I gathered up at the end of the room by the stairs checking to make sure we were all there. The only one missing was Nyssa, but her health was high red so we at least knew she was alive.

"JILL WHERE ARE YOU?" Kallen yelled out looking around for her sister. Everyone with enough energy helped her. I was looking by the pillars on one side when I saw it out of the corner of my eye. At first I didn't know what it was because it was so far away and i only barely saw. But then it came again and again. The blue pixelated explosion that can only mean one thing. Someone died.

"GUYS GET TO FRONT OF THE ROOM NOW!" I yelled charging at the whatever the source was. I was still too far away to tell what had been causing it. The yell caught the attention of most players who turned to see who was yelling. Charlie and Kallen met with me half way through the room. They had seen it as well. Seamuz and Ace were farther behind us. We closed in on the source and stopped dead in our tracks when we saw what it was. A group of about twenty players in long brown trench coats were there hacking away at players to exhausted to defend themselves. The ones who tried didn't stand a chance against the players with full health and full of energy.

"JILL!" Kallen yelled seeing her sister fighting off a player with an axe. Jill turned towards Kallen when she heard her which allowed the other player to disarm her. Left with no weapon she backed up until she she tripped over another player. Kallen started to run to her sister but the player with the axe had seen and heard her yelling to Jill and picked her up by the hair causing Jill to scream in pain.

"DONT FUCKING MOVE OR THE BITCH DIES!" He yelled pressing the blade of his axe to her throat. Kallen stopped where she was tears in her eye's, body trembling with rage.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" Kallen yelled as we moved slowly to her side.

"WHY? WHY? WELL BECAUSE IT'S FUN! THIS IS A GAME WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE FUN IN GAMES AREN'T WE?" The logic behind the statement left everyone speechless. Sure you were supposed to have fun in games, but this wasn't a game anymore and he knew that.

"AS TO WHO WE ARE… WE ARE LAUGHING COFFIN! SAO'S FIRST MURDER GUILD!" Jill's eyes grew wide after he finished, her screaming only grew but instead of pain and fear, now it was just a scream of pure fear. But the look was gone the next second as the laughing coffin member slit her throat killing her and causing her body to disappear.


	10. PK

**A/N** **I didn't really like how the original chapter came out so I rewrote some of it to better suit my tastes. I plan on writing the next chapter hopefully before school starts up again. If it's not up in the next couple weeks them it might be a couple months before I do update. **

Chapter 9: PK

-February 25, 2023-

"JILL!" Kallen Screamed as the laughing coffin member killed her sister. The shock hit us all and for a moment Ace and I lost all our strength. But then with no hostage to threaten anymore we were able to charge in at the members.

"GO WE'LL COVER YOU WHILE YOU KILL HIM!" Charlie yelled as we began to run towards the slaughter.

Kallen sprinted at the man who had killed her sister, while Charlie and I went to the sides to cover her. The man grinned and started to swing his axe but Kallen ducked into a roll at the last second and came up behind him. She severed the hand holding the axe in one fluid motion, then she stabbed him through his abdomen causing him to scream out.

"How does it feel? How does it feel knowing that you're about die?" Kallen leaned in and whispered, her voice monotone. The man started to reply but Kallen twisted her blade and dragged it up through his stomach, causing the man to howl with more pain.

"What's that? I CAN'T FUCKING HEAR YOU!" she yelled whipping the blade back and forth within him. Finally she stopped and pulled the blade out of his chest and let him drop to the floor. She bent down at one knee and put the tip of the rapier to his throat.

"So how does it feel? Scared? Terrified? Well?" She whispered her voice once again barely more than a whisper.

"Please stop. I'm sorry I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you. Just please don't kill me!" The member yelled after sobbing for a few minutes.

"Just like you spared my "bitch" sister?" Kallen said while slowly putting her rapier through the man's throat until his health hit zero and his body disappeared. After she was done Kallen turned to look at me with a smile

"Alright we still have a lot to go let's ta-"

"JASON LOOK OUT!" Kallen cried before shoulder bashing me out of the way of a massive two-handed great sword. I fell to the ground while listening to Charlie screaming. I got to me feet as fast as I could to see what was happening to Charlie. She was in the middle of fighting the girl who had swung at me. The girl was good but Charlie was faster and had a longer reach with the katana she had recently started using. Knowing she would be fine I frantically looked around for Kallen but couldn't find her. Fearing the worst I looked up to the party members names and found one missing. Kallen's name had disappeared which meant two things. Either she had left the party willingly or she had been forcibly removed from it by the system. In that moment rage took over me and everything went red.

When I regained consciousness everything was over Laughing Coffin was gone as were the other survivors. The only people left in the boss chamber was Charlie, Seamuz, Ace, Animal and me. The time on my HUD said it was close to midnight. Charlie was using my leg as a pillow while she slept, while her sister stood next to us like a guard. Seamuz and Ace were asleep leaning on a pillar a few feet away.

"What happened? I blacked out, I can't remember a thing." I asked after looking around.

"You mean besides the slaughter that took place?" Animal asked sarcastically.

"Yeah… What happened after Kallen died?" The words left a stale taste in my mouth. She went quiet for a minute before starting.

"She wasn't fast enough to dodge the blow after saving your dumbass. She got cut in half so there wasn't time to heal, it was instantaneous and painless I hope. After that Charlie fought to protect you while you recovered from the shock of her sacrifice. After that you called Azazel and you two were like animals, you tore into the asshole who cut her down, and then went After the others. After that everyone left in the clearing group regrouped and fought back. It was a fucking massacre I saw at least ten people from Laughing Coffin die and fifteen of the clearing team." Animal explained and then went silent.

"was it just the one women I killed?" I asked.

"No, you killed one other as well." Animal said with a monotone voice. I don't know what scared me more the fact that I had killed two people or the fact that I found myself not feeling a thing for them. Sure they were murderers, but they were still human being. Surely I should feel something for them.

"And the rest of you?" I asked after a few minutes. She merely shook her head. So I was the only one.

"If it makes you feel better though the second one was about to kill Charlie, I would have killed the asshole myself but I was busy protecting the weaker players." She said after a little bit. Is that why I didn't feel a thing for them, because one killed a close friend and the other was about to kill my girlfriend.

"Thanks. At least some of the guilt is gone now. I'll take over watch you get some sleep it's been a long day. Besides you need all the beauty rest you can get." I smiled.

"Jackass."

"Bitch." Our swearing went on for another few minutes before she sat down and fell asleep.

"Azazel can I talk to you?" I asked out loud a few minutes later. After a bit he walked out of the shadows, a sword in hand.

"Yes, do we have more people to hurt?" He asked a wide smile on his face.

"No I just wanted to thank you for helping today. I don't think we could have done it without you."

"Me? I didn't do much all I really did was support you. You were the one out front fighting."

"Oh… well thanks anyways."

"Of course just remember you can only summon me for combat two more times." And with he faded back into the shadows.

-February 26th-

It was early in the morning when we got to the first floor. We walked to the black iron palace and entered to see the monument of life. A massive stone covered with the names of all ten thousand players, with the names of the dead having a slash through them. It took awhile but we found Ryuk's name. Ace, Seamuz, and Animal left to find Nyssa and Kallen's. Charlie gave my hand one last squeeze before going to join the search. I stood there for awhile in silence.

"I'm sorry I didn't come earlier, I've had my hands full protecting others, and kicking this games ass like I promised… but I wasn't able to keep that promise entirely. I couldn't save Kallen or Nyssa. And I'm sorry for that and I hope where ever you guys are you're all gaming together on kickass compu-."

"Jason we found them." Charlie called.

"Alright looks like I have to go apologize to them now. I'll talk to you later." I said clearing the tears from my eyes as I walked away. Nyssa And kallen's names were on the other side of the monument. Everyone had finished saying their goodbyes when I arrived.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you both. Nyssa I didn't know you that well but I'm glad I knew you at all. You were a cool person. Kallen you were one of my closest friends and Im thankful for you saving my life. I don't know what will happen now but I do know that I will clear this game and I promise you both I will get revenge on this game and kill Kayaba." I said full of rage. Our group was silent after that. After a few minutes we turned to leave, when we all of a sudden.

*CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP*

"YEAH WOOHOO! HURRAH!"

We whipped around to find the person who made the noise. He was wearing a black trenchcoat and a top hat.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" I yelled at the asshole who seemed to be applauding our friends deaths.

"Me... i'm Haos."


	11. New group

**A/N hey everyone I'm so sorry this chapter took so fucking long to write. School has been... Interesting. I've got one friend crying on my shoulder for most of the year and a lot of homework and writer's block is a total bitch. Plus it's finally time to look at colleges. YAY!(kill me now). Anyways I promise to have a new chapter with an actual fight scene in it within the next couple weeks that's right I'm cured of writer's block for now at least. But be warned the next chapter will come after a new HATE chapter. Which if you haven't read is the other story I'm writing right now so you should go read it. And yes I did just shamelessly self advertise a fanfiction. **

Chapter 10: New group

-February 26, 2023-

"I'm Haos!-" Before he finished I was on top of him, throwing him up against a wall with my elbow to his throat. He didn't seem surprised when he realised what had happened.

"Not what I meant. I don't give a fuck what your name is. What I want to know is why the hell you're clapping and laughing while people are mourning the loss of a friend!" I spat in at him. In response he simply laughed more.

"Why do I laugh at death? Now that's a good one." He kept laughing until I pushed my arm down harder. By now everyone else was nearby watching. I kept applying force until he started gasping for air.

"You know the great thing about safe zones. You can't die no matter what I do, so I can keep choking you without anything happening to you. Now I'm gonna let you down and you're gonna fucking answer me. Alright?" He nodded in response. I dropped him and he landed on his coughing and gasping. After a few minutes he got up and smiled although this smile was a more nervous one.

"Good. Now answer the damn question." I growled after he got up

"Well it's just that in this fucked up world we now live in. our only real escape is in dying. If anything we should be happy that those who die don't have to suffer in this game anymore." He replied a tear in his eye.

"That being said i'm not gonna kill myself just to get out of this game. I'm gonna survive and make it back to the real world." He continued clenching his fist, his eyes burning with determination. I sighed, so there was some sense behind the crazy.

"So was there a reason behind you coming here or did you come just to laugh?" I asked, hoping he was about to leave.

"Yes there was a reason behind my visit, other then the laughing at your friend's death. You see me and the rest of my team would like to merge with yours." He said while he clapped his hands once like a deal had just been struck.

"Why would you want to join our team?" Charlie asked stepping next to me. Thank god she was here she's always been better with people than me.

"Why wouldn't we is a better question. You are all not just members of the clearing team but are the de facto leaders of it. Personally I don't care whose team we join as long as their strong and I don't lead, I just wanna stab a bitch." He explained leaning against a wall.

"So how strong is your team? Do you really think they could keep up with us?" Charlie asked a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Oh I know we can. I wouldn't be here if I thought otherwise. But if you don't believe me then come meet them." He said shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

"That sounds like a good idea doesn't it Atticus?" Charlie said as more of a command then a question.

"Sure, I could use a distraction. Me and Charlie will go meet them you guys can head back home. " I responded waving my hand to tell Haos to start walking. Of course animal wouldn't leave Charlie's side so she tagged along as well. It took a few minutes to get where his team was waiting. It was a small pub on the outskirts of town. When walked inside the place was empty except for the NPC's and five players huddled around a table in the corner.

"Hey guys I'm back and guess who I brought with me." Haos said as we neared the table in the corner.

"Is that… Holy shit it is them." One of the players exclaimed when he looked up and spotted us behind Haos. With that all of them scrambled to get up and greet us. One by one they all came up to me and introduced themselves.

"Yo. You have no idea how in awe I am right now. Anyways my name is cooker. I mostly just handle cooking food and handling supplies for the team." A boy my age said coming up to me. He had green eyes, blond hair and wore a typical chef's outfit complete with hat, he had a large butcher's knife strapped to his waist.

"Nice to meet you cooker." I said with a nod

"I hope you're as tough as people say you are. I'm Ironwolf." A man looking a few years older than me said. His red eyes kept staring at me without blinking. He had a black iron chestplate over a chainmail shirt and black iron greaves. On his back he had a large battle axe.

"Depends on what you've heard about me." I shrugged in response.

"We'll see." he said walking back to the table. Next up was the only girl on his team.

"Hey. I'm shiro okami and this is my wolf kiba." As soon as she had finished speaking the shadow under the table started moving. Before I knew it a large grey wolf was by her side. She wore light leather armor with a sword on her thigh.

"It's nice to meet a tamer I've never met one before." I responded still staring at the wolf next to her.

"I thought you were a tamer? People have seen you with a crow on your shoulder before." She said a look of confusion on her face.

"Its… it's a long story." I responded. I swear I could hear Azazel laughing. She just shrugged in return.

"Hello everyone it's nice to meet you my name is Piero-Bird, just call me Piero though. I am a shop owner on floor fifteen." the next guy said with a smile on his face. He wore a metal chestplate and had sword and shield on his back. Out of the corner of my eye I could see animal take an interest in someone for the first time since we got here.

"Hey guess I'm last. Anyways my name is TjGrY. If I had known that I'd be stuck with it for what seems like an eternity I would have picked something pronounceable. So you guys can just call me Ty." He smiled nervously when he introduced himself. He wore black leather cloak with a good and had a whip sword wrapped around him like a belt.

"NO,HELL NO, HOW THE FUCK! WHEN WILL YOU LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE COLE!" Animal yelled causing everyone to freeze and look at the screaming girl.


End file.
